Introduction to the Showcase

George Hallett
I think the difference comes in with the street photographers. The subjects strike a pose – they perform. They know how they want to see themselves so they will wear a certain kind of clothes. They want to show the shoes they’ll strike a pose accordingly, if it’s the shirt they’ll open the jacket and strike a pose to show off the way they want to be seen.

There’s this rapport between photographer and sitter that creates the magic. A lot of my earlier pictures were like that – I meet somebody in the street he’ll say 'fak my photo' – 'take my picture' – and if it’s a street sweeper he’ll put the broom behind him and pose; if it’s a gangster he’ll pose like Humphrey Bogart with the smoke curling over his eyes, you now? The pose would come out because this is the way I want to be seen – it’s all there and as a photographer growing up in that environment it’s natural. People walking by are not gonna stop and say 'oh look at him posing' – that’s all part of the game.

Vanley Burke
It’s one thing I find strange – the pose – because with building workers, if there’s two of them talking and you arrive with your camera they’ll immediately go [gestures] – you know it’s a pose and they wait for you to take the photo.

George Hallett
In KwaZulu-Natal it’s the kids come to you and they 'shootah' – and they’re all going to do that thing with their fingers and it’s disturbing at first because you’ve got to do that and then become invisible again. And you talk to them, let them forget about the camera and then you start working. But the street photographer would take that – that’s his thing.