Soweto - South Africa
Soweto - Jo'Burg
"Will I get beaten up", I asked. "White boy, big camera?" I smiled.
This is a selection of images I shot for myself whilst on a commissioned shoot in South Africa. The hotel I stayed in was next to Tambo Airport in Jo'burg and like much of this part of the world was surrounded by fencing and security gates, not that there was much to see in the immediate vicinity.
Unlike many overseas jobs I had the weekend to myself although confess I spent the Saturday reading, relaxing and as it turned out, getting propositioned by prostitutes by the pool. I wasn't sure if swimming in the pool after the official closing time of 6pm was a coded signal to the ladies of the night, suffice to say I declined the offer from the amply proportioned lady and her pimp. Later that evening my sister greeted me, over the phone, with the news she had just got engaged. She gets proposed to and I get a proposal of a completely different kind!
On Sunday I decided to take a tour but did not want to join the tour buses. As a rule I don't do crowds and so I found a driver. He offered to take me on the usual tourist trail but I wanted to see the townships.
"Will I get beaten up", I asked. "White boy, big camera?" I smiled.
"No Sir, of course not. It's all safe now. You'll be fine".
Well if you ignore the fact that many people can't read and have acquired their driving licences on the black market so if we actually make it to Soweto I'll know at least somebody up there likes me.
I wanted to see Mandela's house, now a museum, how could you not? After that I was more interested in seeing where people lived and how, so off we went. Mandela was still alive at this time, albeit in a bad way and the overt corruption in the country must have dismayed him greatly. Several years later I got to photograph his daughter Zinzi.
All these images were shot at a variety of locations in Soweto within a 4 hour time frame.