I had the pleasure of photographing Nelson Mandela,
then president of South Africa, at a function in March ‘98.

What made this photo-shoot difficult was that NO camera flash was allowed. This was in an attempt not to aggravate eye problems the president experienced. So all photographs were taken with ambient light alone. Which is a challenge inside a dimly lit marquee tent in early evening.

Date: March ‘98 Johannesburg, South Africa
Equipment: Nikon F90x; Nikon AF-D 80-200mm f2.8
Exposure: Spotmetered; 1/15th sec f2.8
Film: Fujicolor 800 Super G Plus

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President Mandela obviously enjoying the Imilonji Choir, as he dances to their vibrant singing. His warmth and lack of officiousness have endeared him even more to South Africans and people across the world.

Date: March ‘98 Johannesburg, South Africa
Equipment: Nikon F90; Nikon AF-D 35-70mm f2.8
Exposure: matrix; handheld 1/8th sec f2.8
Film: Fujicolor 800 Super G Plus

The Black Townships in South Africa were formed in the early 60’s by the National Party who conceived of Apartheid as their grand scheme of social engineering, whereby they could still have cheap Black labour at hand to work in the nearby mines and factories in the designated White areas.

Though Apartheid has now been dismantled under the new democratic government, and there are no more areas designated for any specific racial group, South African culture has been shaped and history still shows… The photographs on the following pages were taken in Vosloorus, a black township near Johannesburg.They are meant to show general everyday scenes on the street. My intention was not to prettify things nor to show hard photo-journalistic pictures - just a portrayal of everyday scenes. This is what YOU would see if you were to walk down the streets. The photographs were taken in October 1996. Instead of continually revising the text and the photos, I’m letting this stand as a snapshot of how it was in 1996 - 1997. photos : Neil van Niekerk text : Neil van Niekerk & Wandi Dlangamandla

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