this project follows photographers brian hill (amsterdam, the netherlands) and stan engelbrecht (cape town, south africa) as they complete weekly assignments they set for themselves.

brian hill

the editor of www.coffeeshopportraits.blogspot.com, smoking a joint at home, amsterdam, netherlands

welcome to the smoking ban.

editor's note: 

tourists from around the world come to amsterdam to smoke marijuana, which is legal in designated areas, namely coffeeshops. since the beginning of the month, the smoking ban has come into play, also in coffeeshops. this is only a tobacco ban. it's still legal to smoke marijuana in coffeeshop, but only in it's purest form. joints and pipes are no longer a mix of tobacco and marijuana, which makes smoking and getting stoned far more dangerous. weed in the netherlands is super strong and now being sold and consumed 'uncut'. as a result, instead of having a nice stoned experience, quite a few tourists are blacking out and or passing out after smoking.  

i have no objection to the smoking ban, except in the case of coffee shops. as a country, we offer free use of soft drugs. but now, only in it's hardest and potentially most dangerous form. this makes no sense. i spend much time exploring coffeeshops, chatting to and making pictures of smokers. this makes me a first hand witness to a law that, not only doesn't make sense, it's endangering lives.

colin hill, editor of www.coffeeshopportraits.blogspot.com

stan engelbrecht

mrs. monatsi (in red), her younger sister and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nyanga township , cape town, south africa

it makes no sense to me that we live in a country where there is no government aid for women like mrs. monatsi. she, like many other grandmothers, has to take care of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren that have either been abandoned by their mothers and fathers or orphaned, often by H.I.V. mrs. monatsi has no income other than her very small pension, and no-one in her family has steady work. the children all need to go to school, be clothed and fed on mrs. monatsi’s small pension. they go hungry more often than not.

there is one organization trying to make a difference for these women - african solutions for african problems (www.africansolutions.org). please have a look at their website