Simone Scholtz (b1980) is working on a series of portraits under the night sky. "With a view to conveying the human connection with nature and the universe, I have photographed people in southern African landscapes at night. Because humans feel more vulnerable at night, particularly in the wild outdoors, their awareness of the vastness of the universe is more acute and can make people feel insignificant. On the contrary, people should feel emboldened by the fact that they are a part of our glorious universe. To convey this idea, the horizon lines in my compositions are central rather than high or low, giving equal importance to the cosmos and the earth. In addition, the people I photograph gaze directly at the viewer with self-confidence, inviting the viewer to share in their sense of interconnection with the world and the heavens. My portraits of people are captured in an instant, swathed in warm light, emphasising the importance of the moment, despite the fact that moments are ephemeral. The contrasting cold light of the night sky is used to suggest the ethereal realm of the eternal, the awe-inspiring and ever-changing nature of which is indicated by the swirling stars."

 

Simone has been teaching photography part-time at Paarl Girls High since 2021. In 2011 she completed an MA in International Multimedia Journalism (Beijing Foreign Studies University).  

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Simone documented grass roots organizations across South Africa for GreaterGoodSA and held a solo exhibition at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2009.​

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Simone shot various in-depth features for magazines and won the Vodacom Award for best photographer in the Western Cape in 2007 and 2008.​

 

In 2004-2005 she worked as newspaper photographer in Cape Town at Die Burger. She was a runner-up in the Mondi newspaper awards for her story on subsistence fishermen. She was introduced to photography at Rhodes University (BJournalism, with distinction, 2003).