9 September 2010Last updated at 09:40

In pictures: Soweto, South Africa's trend-setting township

Diepkloof Hostel Conversion Project, Soweto, Diepkloof, 2009 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

South African photo-journalist Jodi Bieber says her latest book is intended to challenge people’s views of Soweto, the Johannesburg township often remembered for the part it played in the fight against apartheid.

Orlando West Regional Park, Orlando West, Soweto, 2009 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

“If you Google Soweto, you get a certain perception coming out of the area,” she told the BBC’s Network Africa programme. “The ghetto, the dusty streets of the crime-ridden, poor HIV/Aids community."

Diepkloof as seen from the Soweto Highway,Diepkloof, 2010 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

"But if you really go closer and deeper into Soweto, it’s so colourful."

Ms Bieber drove 7,000km (4,300 miles) around Soweto’s streets for three months looking for opportunities to photograph people’s daily lives. She says she did not want to show what people already knew.

Themed birthday parities for one year olds, she says, are one of the big trends she found in the township.

Orlando West Swimming Pool, Orlando West, Soweto, 2009 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

The photograph, she says, that sums up the aim of her project is on the cover of the book. “My favourite is of the Orlando baths. People who see this photograph say: ‘Swimming pools, in Soweto?’”

Michel Unathi Madikane, Motswaledi Informal Settlement, Power Park 2, Soweto, 2010 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

Soweto is also seen as the birth place of kwaito – South African hip-hop - but Ms Bieber says her own stereotypes were challenged...

Alternative rock band ReeBuurth, Pimville, Soweto, 2009 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

.... she discovered surprising sub-cultures like rock bands she usually associated with conservative white communities.

Andrew Sithebe - Dressed to Kill ,Molapo Ext, Soweto, 2009 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

She was struck by this well-dressed musician as he walked by and was invited back to his cramped home, where he said he had 50 suits and 500 pairs of shoes. “His entire bath was filled with his shoes. He calls himself the best-dressed man in Soweto.”

Humphrey Nkosana and Goodness Sonto Mokgokgo's along with their guests, posing for wedding photographs. Thokoza Park, Rockville, Soweto, 2009 © Jodi Bieber/INSTITUTE

"Fashion, bling and hair is big in Soweto,” Ms Bieber writes in the book’s introduction. “Sowetans believe they are at the cutting edge of the trends being set in the country.” Soweto is published by Jacana Media and the Goethe-Institut.

Africa

In pictures: Soweto, South Africa's trend-setting township

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