Ralf G. Will

CV for RALF G WILL

WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER, EDITOR, TOUR OPERATOR, MUSIC+SPORTS MANAGER.

DOB: 19-10-1962, Windhoek, Namibia. Move to Germany at age of 3.

SCHOOLING: Matric, 1981, Munich, Germany. Pick up first-hand football, rugby and cricket insights during travels to England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland from 1976 - 79. Besides German literary and media studies, foster interest in English language, history of Art and news writing.

FIRST STEPS IN NEWS + SPORTS REPORTING: For Munich dailies Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Munich Merkur, covering various sporting codes and Arts. For weekly DIE ZEIT, reporting about the jeans craze.

ARMY: Airborne training school, Altenstadt, Germany. Photographer and Video Cameraman, 1981/1982. Cover preps for parachuting world champs - free fall and automatic, and shoot survival videos.

TOUR-GUIDING: Photo Tours/Safaris in Botswana´s OKAVANGO DELTA, ZAMBIA, NAMIBIA, CAPRIVI, ZIMBABWE, VIC FALLS and in KENYA from 1982 to 1985.

TERTIARY EDUCATION: BA, ANTHROPOLOGY, Universities of South Africa (UNISA), Munich and Cape Town (UCT), 1985 – 1991.

ROLE OF ARTIST IN SOCIETY: From 1986 to `88, I conducted an interview series among emminent South African Arts + Culture personalites. This ground-breaking series, enhanced by my black+white portraits, was finally published in 2012. Forms groundwork for NEW THEORY OF ART.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND NEWS REPORTING (1): 1985- 1990, Publish rare SAN/ BUSHMAN photo feature in specilaist publication, AFRICA INSIGHT, from AFRICA INSTITUTE, Pretoria (1986) and contribute to coffee table glamour anniversary edition, 100 YEARS JOHANNESBRUG by van Rensburg Publications (1986). Photo course at UCT and documentary workshops with famous photographers JUERGEN SCHADEBERG and OMAR BADSHA.

Topix covered: NELSON MANDELA RELEASE, UCT ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY, NAMIBIA INDEPEN-DENCE, FOOTBALL WORLD CUP ITALIA 90, FORMULA 1 (till 1997). Win PHOTO AWARD at Hamburger Fototage/Photo Days (1989) for Cape Town Stevedoring . Work for Agence France Press (AFP), German Press Agency (dpa), SAPA, various Cape Town papers and publications, amongst them Anthropology Newsletter by UCT Student Society.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND NEWS REPORTING (2) : 1987 - 1997, work for SUNDAY TIMES, CAPE ARGUS, CAPE TIMES, SAPA, RAPPORT, SOUTH. Participate in photo exhibition at Cape Town`s Coffee Lounge in Longmarket St.

Publish travel features, enhanced by my photos, in CAPE ARGUS, CAPE TIMES, ROOTZ, SAWUBONA (SAA´s then-in-flight magazine), PEOPLE´S POST. Topix include: Zimbabwe Ruins, Airborne Shock, Garden Route Pass, Sailing Lake Kariba, Elephants in Moremi National Park, Augrabies Falls, Schotia Lion Safari, Fort Wynyard Cultural History, World War II Hero In Top-Secret Mission, etc..

SWIFT PHOTO TOURS AND MUSIC AGENCY: Take over SWIFT PHOTO TOURS AGENCY from former associate Ed Xanoko in 1999. Organize and conduct 14-day-round-tours for Kenyan and Australian business people in South Africa from 1998 to 2003. Cover Rugby World Cup 1995 as guide. Set-up and review series of live music shows in Cape venues, ranging from restaurants to small theatre halls and festivals. In 2005, assemble, promote and guide 8-piece Afro-Jive band from Eastern Cape to Masala Third World music festival in Hannover, northern Germany. Set up African music workshops in high-schools in Brunswick and Berlin.

SPORTS + NEWS REVIEW: Formerly the NEWSLETTER TO FRIENDS OF 2010, it became an online blog, based on internet photo-albums. Now sent by email it started in run-up to World Cup 2006, covering football, tours, Arts + Culture, business coaching and current affairs. Sent to 700 contacts world-wide, review combines creative photography and memorable news; reaches diverse audience of decision makers, insiders. Constitutes excellent marketing tool.

OUTRAGEOUS 11, A FOOTBALL JOURNEY: In 2014, I published a 133-pages book in run-up to Brasilian World Cup, enhanced by my gripping sports photos, amassed in a career spanning well over 20 years.

It includes 2 chapters on local football history, one on World Cup 2010 And Beyond, and refers to a prestigious FRANCE FOOTBALL photo-feature about my work with streetkids and refugees in July of 2010.

FLOWERPOT RAID, a comedy by Ed Xanoko. I finished editing this uplifting play by my former associate in 2015 and published it with my agency. This funny RAID by bunch of dissatisfied lab and test rodents had apparently won an award before. Ed`s first play, A MUBIRU TRAGEDY, had won a wildcard entry to a play-writing festival in Cape Town in 2007.

PHOTO-EXHIBITION: In 2015, I held an exhibition under title BEST OF RGW in Espergaerde library north of Copenhagen, the Danish capital. The 2-week show featured selected visuals from my personal portfolio and went on to receive a write-up in the local Nordsjealland Lokalavisen and in 2 German newspapers from southern Hamburg, entitled: SYDAFRIKAANS FOTOGRAF.

IN-FISH. In 2017, I assembled the illustrations and pix to my most ambitious literary project up-to-date, a futuristic novel about a mysterious plane crash.A 196 page s softcover edition came out in Cape Town. Another version of IN-FISH went online with www.xlibris.com. The storyline tempted NASA to copy a name I had invented for a far-out space probe and use it for their own devious purposes. There is an update of IN-FISH as ebook in pipeline.

NEW THEORY OF ART: Since 2018, I published three articles in internet journals dedicated to study of society and social phenomerna. Those feature-stories were named IN MY ART BODY IS BUDDY, a summary of my Arts research, and PHOTOGRAPHY, OUTPOST OF CREATIVITY OR PARIAH OF ART? Lately, "ABSTRACTIONISM" was added. They appeared in the „Journal for Social Sciences“ and in „Journal of Advance Studies of Humanities“. Two earlier articles, entitled THE ART-MONGER HAS COMETH plus review of a POP-ART SHOW AT WOLFSBURG´S MUSEUM OF ART make for intriguing chapters of my new theory.

LANGUAGES: English, German, French fluent in speech and writing; Afrikaans read well; Sesotho broken.

COMPUTER: Windows XP, 8.1, 10; Word; Open Office, Photoeditor, Photoexpress, Corel Draw, Email-marketing.

DRIVER´S LICENCE: Code 08.

SPORTS: Mountain-biking, soccer and rugby coaching, chess.

COMMITTED TO: Deadlines and goal-setting. Creative exploration and social consciousness. Adaptable to new challenges.

APTITUDE: Since 2012, I have written 6 and edited 8 books in 2 languages (English, German).

I combine visual aptitude and creative innovation with literary background and comprehensive journalistic research, aimed at sharp, informative and up-to-date results. Aimed at challenging, exploring and critical appreciation of creativity.

My Arts + Culture interviews from late 1980ies yielded valuable insights into creative processes and their socio-historical background. The interview book ends with a portrait of each respondent and forms a valid reference to the specific time and region in which it was produced.

In 2013, I participated in a continuing professional development programme and received a certificate. As a PHOTOGRAPHER, I have covered 3 World Cups (1990, 2010, 2014) and 2 Confed Cups (2009, 2013). As football activist I have initated the 6aside tournament CAPE TOWN PEACE CUP and am scouting for formerly marginalised talent. I have produced unique environmental photo features for leafy magazines, and administer an intriguing collection of cultural, especially music in Cape from 1986 - 1995, as well as wildlife, nature, sports and historical photos. I have updated my novel IN-FISH, richly endowed with images, and added new and gripping angle to crash of flite M-777-F. soon to be released as ebook.

EMAIL: swift_photo_agency@yahoo.com,

cape.socca.union@gmail.com and

cape.socca@gmail.com

MOBILE: 0027-74-0590349

ADDRESS: SWIFT PHOTO AGENCY, PO Box 4018, Cape Town 8000. South Africa

Best Wishes, Yours Ralf G Will