"This Hornlee-based team was selected by myself and facilitated by Neil Louw," explains Fleming.
The kit was made up of socks, shorts, tops and jackets to the value of R10500. "We were privileged to have John Williams, vice chairman and Dorian Innes, chairman of the Crossroads Club, and Shaun van Eck, the CEO of Knysna Tourism at the hand over," beamed Fleming.
The Ball & Pen Project
Fleming decided in November 2009 to shoot a series of ball related photographs using a Olympus Pen Camera and a 40-year-old Olympus SP 35 film camera for novelty. He normally shoots on an Olympus E3 professional camera, but chose a micro-four thirds camera for the project as well as the 35mm rangefinder camera to make it a more interesting challenge.
Unforgettable experience
Photographer John Deakin, who joined Fleming on the project, says: "My greatest reward during our travels was to see the faces of the people of the townships light up with happiness when they saw us arrive with the footballs. Young or old, boys or girls, they all came running from far and wide to have fun, and with no inhibitions they all joined in, we were at times overwhelmed. Ian captured their souls and the prints of his images reflect their obvious joy."
"Sadly for me, the photography part of the project is now finished, however, my experience with Ian and this project has left me with the desire to continue visiting the townships in the future, spending time with the people who live there and recording their lives," says Deakin.
The photographs were taken in townships in the Garden Route, Karoo and Eastern Cape with Elvis Klaas acting as location scout and interpreter.
A percentage of the profits were used to fund the Crossroads soccer team. The profits came from the printing of the final selection of Fleming’s ten favourite portraits, spread on canvas and sold at ten appointed outlets in South Africa.
"I wanted to prove to the keen amateurs out there that top quality results can also be achieved from the Olympus Pen," Fleming smiles with satisfaction.
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Ian Fleming (back left), Shaun van Eck (left front), John Williams andDorian Innis (back right) with a very cheerful Crossroads team. Neil Louw is front right. (Photo: Warren Fleming)
