Pictured top, photo by Ian Morrison
The Joburg Photowalkers are a group of enthusiastic Joburg photographers who meet up on weekends to explore interesting city neighbourhoods on foot, cameras in hand, snapping images of architecture, nature, city skyline, people and those oh-so memorable sunrises and sunsets.
Co-founded in 2009 by local photography enthusiast Mark Straw, they organise their meet-ups through a Facebook group and are very much an informal gathering of enthusiasts. There’s no membership fee and no attendance register, your main requirement as a Joburg photowalker is that you show up on time with your camera and are armed with a sense of adventure.
Celebrating Rosebank’s walkability
On Saturday September 14 Johannesburg In Your Pocket offered this intrepid group the opportunity to explore Rosebank from its rooftops. In April 2019 we launched a mini-guide to Rosebank – Rosebank In Your Pocket – in collaboration with the Rosebank Management District who have embarked on a bold campaign to highlight the district’s identity as Joburg’s most walkable and pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood.
Packed with recommendations on Rosebank’s top attractions and the best places to eat, drink and shop, plus handy walkable maps of the Rosebank District, Rosebank In Your Pocket mini-guide has put this vibrant neighbourhood on the map – literally! Head here to our website to find out more and view an online copy.
As part of our partnership in this ongoing project to present the friendly, open and walkable urban lifestyle that characterises the new Rosebank, we have also been training Rosebank Management District’s ‘Ambassador’ team of security staff in specialised Rosebank destination knowledge and we were delighted to have a Rosebank security team accompany us on our early morning walk.
Rosebank rooftops at sunrise with the photowalkers
The Joburg Photowalkers Rosebank In Your Pocket tour started on Bath Avenue just before 6am. By the time we had arrived (5:45am) the eager Photowalkers were already primed and ready to go, many of them already with their tripods set up in the middle of the quiet streets to capture the final moments of the twilight hour.
With the help of Rosebank Management District, our three-hour walking tour took in the rooftops of five major Rosebank buildings: Rosebank Towers, The Link, President Place, The Trumpet at Keyes Art Mile and The Tyrwhitt.
Excited to get a move on so we could all go and watch the moon setting over Northcliff and the sun rising over Rosebank, we briskly charged off to our first destination – Rosebank Towers (a Redefine property) where we were treated to soaring views of the verdant suburbs from the deceptively high vantage point of the fourth-floor balcony.
From here the group moved onwards to another new Rosebank landmark, The Rosebank Link (another Redefine property opposite the Rosebank Gautrain station on Oxford Road). Completed in 2018 the building’s unusual zigzag shape and intriguing inner atrium with its vertical garden and epic skylights have made this one of Rosebank’s most distinctive new landmarks.
Our group then headed west down the hill through the Rosebank District in the direction of Jan Smuts Avenue on our way to the President Place building and then from there onward back up the hill to Rosebank’s Keyes Art Mile to check out the latest art exhibitions, the iconic architecture of the Circa and Trumpet buildings – and of course to climb up onto the roof to check out the view.
Coffee, doughnuts and a surprise penthouse visit with Perch and The Tyrwhitt
The final stop on our Rosebank Photowalk was back on Bath Avenue at the always inviting Perch Flexible Office Space where we were treated to excellent Perch coffee, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and refreshments courtesy of the Rosebank Management District.
Perch Flexible Office is a co-working space that offers flexible daily, weekly and month-to-month desk rentals to freelancers, consultants, telecommuters and other members of the flexible workforce with all the necessary perks including fast internet, meeting rooms, printing, copying and good coffee. All of the photowalkers on our walk were also kindly gifted a free day at Perch to come and try out co-working for the day!
Perch Flexible Office Space is owned by Grapnel Property Group and they had an extra special surprise visit lined up for the photowalkers after everyone had enjoyed a coffee break.
For those with the very bravest head for heights we were offered the opportunity to take an exclusive look at the brand new penthouse that is currently under construction on the fourteenth floor of the luxurious new apartment block The Tyrwhitt next door to Perch. Views for days!
