Finally, there are the perceptions of the reader. In considering the social context in which photographs are read, it is important to look at the readership. There is a popular myth that places photojournalists in opposition to critical theorists. This opposition is informed by other myths. Yet, there is no activity that divides thinking and doing.
Photojournalists are theoreticians in some form.
This crude and cruel division has left the photojournalist's community separate from art photographic practices and from critical theorists. Yet it is these environments that carry a potential for productive exchange. One of the great challenges for practising photographers is to engage productively in critical theory. For theory to inform the way we make photographs in the challenging and culturally diverse environment of southern Africa, we need to have critical theory written in plain English. We, on this panel, are asking theorists and historians to consider us as you write.