Stephanie Baker with her bikeStephanie Baker - 'I'm limited to about a kilometre in view of my age, and I use it, well, certainly every other day... about a kilometre uphill in Pretorius street. I keep on the pavements, they're in a terrible state with chunks missing, but cycling is awfully good for public relations. I know the area's cleaners at the flats on my way to church - I get a greeting from them. The security men at the forensics place always wave, and going along you sort of get to know people, often you see someone really looking quite gloomy and you sort of give a smile and say don't worry and get a smile back. I think it’s wonderful for public relations! I really do. I enjoy it, I'm happy on the bike. I don't find this area hostile, I really don't. Some people living here get a bit frightened and well, I don't think you can go about looking over your shoulder and expecting trouble. I've only had one incident years ago where my bag was snatched, out of the basket, it was a gift actually when I look back and think, but that was the only time. That was retrieved fortunately. No, I'm not going to go around being frightened of things. Most people have good will. Some people here are very scared, even to walk down to the shops. They sometimes ask me if I'm alright. If I didn't have the bicycle, well I'm not very good at walking, I'd be more or less in retirement. At least I can get around and see the beauty of the place too. This bike suits me, it’s quite old now and I'm 82 and three quarters. I'm not sure If I'd manage with the new bike having all the gears. You know I'm from England, I often think when people see you, and you hear 'haauw', that it is only mad dogs and English women that ride a bicycle, ha ha. People know the bike around here now.'

This is just one example of what one woman's bicycle means to her. Independence and a means of connecting with her community. If we just jump in our cars and drive everywhere instead of biking or making use of public transport, this is an aspect of life that we miss.

The Bicycle Portraits project was initiated by Stan Engelbrecht, a photographer based in Cape Town, and Nic Grobler who is based in Johannesburg. They decided early in 2010 that whenever they can, together or separately, they are on the lookout for fellow commuters, and people who use bicycles as part of their everyday work. They decided to photograph these people and ask them about their bike.

They are finding out who rides bicycles, why they ride bicycles, if and why they love their bicycles, and of course why so few South Africans choose bicycles as a transport option? There is no specific range of questions asked, rather they just establish a conversation around the rider’s life and where his or her bicycle fits into it. Being avid cyclists themselves, this project is as much an investigation into South African bicycle culture as it is an excuse for them to ride their bikes and take photographs. They are raising the funds to turn this project into a self-published full-colour hard-cover photographic book (similar to a previous book Engelbrecht has done, 'African Salad'). They will be shooting the entire project from their bicycles while traveling around the country - this will enable them to meet everyday South Africans out there while they use their bicycles.

Please visit - kickstarter or the bicycle portraits website - to get involved or find out more about the project.

E mail them: dayone@me.com or follow them on twitter - www.twitter.com/bicycleportrait

How they are doing this…

They are going about raising funds in an innovative way, using the Kickstarter pledge/reward social platform as an alternative way of raising funds by essentially taking pre-orders (with benefits, depending on the pledge amount) for the book from an online community who want to see the project succeed. It's an interesting concept - truly independent, community based and very inspiring.

Given the nature of the project they are launching pledging in sections. Their ultimate goal is to raise $35,000 in total for the complete production of the book, but they will be breaking the process up into three phases. For the first phase they are raising $15,000 for traveling, shooting, writing and preparing all the collected content for the next phase. The next phase will be the design and layout, and all pre-printing preparations - for which they want to raise a further $5,000. For the third and final phase they hope to raise an additional $15,000 for the actual printing and binding of 3000 copies of the book.

Some of the questions that they are asking are - who rides bicycles? Why do they ride them? As well as if they love using bicycles as a primary method of transport? Please have a look at their constantly growing site - www.bicycleportraits.co.za - to get a clearer idea of what they are working on. This site will be constantly updated as the project develops and they will be building an iPhone app that informs followers as new additions are interviewed, photographed and added. The project can also be followed via constant updates on Twitter or our Facebook page.

Why they are doing this...

As you'll see they are not photographing people who ride purely for exercise or recreation, but instead they are focussing on those who use bicycles as an integral tool in their day-to-day existence. They have noticed that in South Africa, especially in the major centres, very few people use bicycles as mode of transport. This is very strange since we have no proper public transport infrastructure, and that which does exist, is expensive and unsafe. Given all the benefits of cycling - independence, fitness, cost-effectiveness, environmentally friendly - we would love to encourage the use of bicycles in South Africa amongst all social classes.

They have noticed that as our major centres develop, there still seems to be a trend to make cities more friendly for cars, not people. While this might be happening in many places around the world the effect on individuals seems to be very dramatic in a country like South Africa, where there is a growing divide between those who can afford motorised transport and those who struggle to. Owning a bicycle in this social climate can be very empowering, if the correct infrastructure exists.

As you might know, South Africa is a world within one country, home to various cultures, with a tragic history of segregation and racism. Through this project we hope to give people a glimpse into each others' lives through a well known object of movement, practicality and joy - the bicycle. Looking at individuals through their, sometimes unconscious, involvement in bicycle culture, they will inadvertently touch on many charged issues like the implementation of public space, lack of infrastructure development and also social problems like class division and unequal wealth distribution, but also perhaps bring those unfamiliar to each other together in their love for a simple thing...

Their long term goal...

Through publishing this book, they want to be able to assist the underprivileged cycling community through their project - be it teaching bicycle maintenance skills, providing necessities like helmets, tires, tubes, locks… It would be great to create a support structure for the people who appear in the book - this could be a trust funded by a percentage from sales of the cover price, or a charity set up in the name of the people who appear in the book etc. Ultimately they want to promote cycling as a means of independent transport to empower the underprivileged, and in fact, to encourage everyone capable to ride a bike as an alternative to driving a car, or even using public transport. They hope that this will lead to the kind of infrastructure development that is designed with all people in mind, not just cars.