Behind the Shot: Broken Bumper, Johannesburg in a Side Mirror

Some photographs are planned. Broken Bumper was found in a side mirror. It was made from inside a Hyundai Accent in Johannesburg, near the corner of Bree Street and End Street, and it has become one of the defining images of the Broken Bumpers collection by col_shots.

The place: Bree Street and End Street

This part of the Johannesburg CBD never stands still. Taxis, traders, pedestrians and parked cars all compete for the same few metres of road. Instead of stepping out into it, the photograph stays inside the car and looks back through the right-side mirror, so the city arrives already framed: parked vehicles, buildings, movement and noise compressed into one small rectangle of glass.

The moment: sunset in the City of Gold

The image was taken as the sun went down. Golden light hits the windows and building faces, and for a moment the city looks soft, almost gentle. That warmth is real, but it is only half the story. Johannesburg is the City of Gold, and the light in this frame is a reminder of the name as much as the time of day.

What it means: work and movement in the frame

Inside the mirror, a recycler pulls a cart through the street. Across Johannesburg, recyclers collect material by weight and exchange it for money, one of the many ways people keep moving and keep earning in the city. Placing that figure inside a golden reflection is the point of the photograph: the beauty and the hardship of Johannesburg sit in the same frame, at the same time, and neither cancels the other out.

That tension runs through the whole series. Broken Bumpers is about journeys seen through a battered rear-view: mobility, work, inequality and the everyday life cycle of the city, from Johannesburg through to Boksburg.

About the Broken Bumpers collection

Broken Bumpers is a fine art photography journey by col_shots, made on the road around Johannesburg and Boksburg. Mirrors, windscreens and the view from the driver's seat become a way of looking at the city in motion. You can see the full series on the Broken Bumpers project page.

Get the print

Broken Bumpers is available as a framed print, printed from the original col_shots photograph and made to order, from 8×10 up to 24×36. The series also appears on the Broken Bumpers organic cotton t-shirt.