A set of pictures I took several years ago while working as a press photographer in South Africa. I took them at a military roadblock which prevented us from entering a township early in the first state of national emergency. I was terribly hung over on this day, and shot these pictures surreptitiously. In these pictures the (then) bureau chief for Viznews (god, was that what they were called?), I think his name was Mike Esposito, was negotiating with the military to let us into the township.

One of the frames from this incident was published by the New York Times. It may have been used on the front page of the International Herald Tribune at the time - without credit. I was on a Reuters assignment at the time and was paid about $50 for the day’s work.

The set of negatives that included the particular frame was lost in a burglary a long time ago. The pictures in this set were from the “reject” negs that I have had in storage for several years.

An hour or so after the incidents in this series took place, something larger, more dramatic happened in which I was confronted by and got into an altercation with some military officers and troops…