It started with a lack of budget and a shrug of the shoulders. I was an Art Director for a Sandton ad agency when a client needed shots of detonators at an open cast mine. The Creative Director looked at me and said, “Richard, you have a camera. Just go and shoot some rocks. How hard can it be?”

 

I found myself standing in the middle of nowhere with an entry-level Nikon, a kit lens, and a hard-hat that felt far too thin for the environment.

 

The Three-Second Safety Briefing

 

The safety briefing was a masterpiece of brevity: “Don’t go anywhere without looking over your shoulder, otherwise you will die.”

We climbed into a bakkie with a tiny red flag on a long pole. That little piece of cloth, no bigger than a handkerchief, was the only thing standing between me and being crushed into a dark red stain by machines the size of a suburban house. I wasn’t nervous. I was wide awake.

 

Finding the Soul in the Siding

 

We reached the site where the charges were being laid. Hundreds of holes had been drilled into the rock, each with a single yellow wire poking out of the ground. They looked like tiny arms reaching for the sky.

 

I set the camera to Auto, hoped the “clickey box” was doing its job, and documented the yellow control box that dictated which charge would blow the world to pieces.

 

Sadly, I can’t post any of those images here as there were security and privacy issues with respect to such sensitive material.