He can't put his finger on exactly when his journey with photography began, but Menzi Gerald Khoza can recall the high school days he spent documenting time spent with his friends on his old Nokia camera phone. Those were the days before Instagram, when he was the guy who constantly tagged everyone on Facebook.
Scrolling through his #DITakeover on Design Indaba's Instagram page, the University of Cape Town economics graduate's work has become about much more than his time weekends spent chilling. "I have a soft for natural scenes; I hit three birds with one stone by going out into nature, doing photography and hanging out with friends" is how he describes his personal Instagram account (@geraldzinyo) and altogether his favourite things to do when he's not confined to his economics textbooks.
Khoza's striking stills of his country have caught the attention of some of his favourite Instagram accounts and have been featured by national tourism publications like SouthAfrica.net. As part of Durban's bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he submitted the winning image, capturing the essence of his sunny, picturesque hometown.
Design Indaba followers were treated to stills of Khoza's adventures—each looking like a page out of a surreal magazine, but he insists that beauty is all around all of us. "I love how photography can inspire others to want to experience moments too. It's never about showing off but rather about saying, 'you can do this too'."
Visit our Instagram account to see last week's take over by Menzi Gerald Khoza and this week's takeover with Bloemfontein-based illustrator Sandy Little.
