NAME: Sam Surka

ORIGIN: Mthatha, RSA

I AM: The Sheik

S500: Is there scope for photography to evolve into something like Chess-Boxing?
SS: Definitely. Photography-Hide&Seek is already being offered as a summer sport to school children.

S500: Who is Photography’s answer to Nelson Mandela?
SS: I don’t think he’s out yet.

S500: What’s all the hype with SexyVeg?
SS: I think it’s just a phase, like the wheel or computers.

S500: What’s all this commotion about?
SS: I’d like to think people still believe in the power of dreams.

NAME: James Lawrence

ORIGIN: London, UK

I AM: slim 500

S500: If you could name one food dish that best captures your art what would it be?
JL: Beans on toast because it’s easy to make, anyone can do it

S500: What is something you find completely uninteresting?
JL: Horse racing, in fact anything equestrian

S500: What’s the best advice your mum ever gave you about photography?
JL: Smile like you mean it

S500: If I could shoot anyone in the world who would it be and why?
JL: With what? If it was a potato gun then Bear Grylls, see how he likes them apples

S500: The Sydney500 will shape the way our children think because…
JL: we will force it upon them in the hope that they will see the beauty of gritty black and white photographs, only to reinforce their rebellious technophillic tendencies. But thats okay.

NAME: Jules Shelly

ORIGIN: Cape Town, RSA

I AM: Rowdy

S500: What, in your view, best captures the spirit of the Sydney 500?

JS: “ Oooh, you took a black and white picture of a lawn chair and its shadow and developed it at Save-on; you must be brooding and deep.”

    – Stewie Griffin, 2006

NAME: Court and Matt

ORIGIN: George Town, CI

WE ARE: Your biggest fans!

S500: What we like the most about black and white is...
MMCB: Black and white has an inherent dignity. Black and white has an ability to communicate. Black and white is timeless… are we the only photographers who would like their images to be around long after we are dead?

S500: What is your fondest photographic memory?
CB: Me at the top of a water skiing pyramid with my brother, Brendon, and my sister, Alyssa.
MM: Standing next to my mom at my first day at boarding school - 5’0”, 45kgs, bright pink plaster cast on my broken left arm… doomed!

S500: Photography shapes the Yen/AUD exchange rate because...
MMCB: Some say the currency of an experience can be valued by the images that you retain. In light of that, we say that photography has not only shaped the Yen / AUD exchange rate, but shaped the emotional exchange rate of every human.

S500: The quote that best sums up our feelings on photography is...
MMCB: When the shutter closes the world opens. - Sharon Wax

S500: Tell us more about the Buttock500.
MMCB: Start clenching!

NAME: Luigi Gomez

ORIGIN: Durban, RSA

I AM: Shy

S500: Passport photos excite you because…
LG: They are an exhibit of distilled human behaviour, without distraction. Very powerful.

S500: The competitive advantage of SexyVeg is..
LG: finally bringing the sex back into vegetables. More carrot, less stick.

S500: What I like most about my nude work is…
LG: its subtlety. The simple act of caring is heroic enough.

S500: The Sydney500 makes me...
LG: Proud to ask strangers to participate. Photography’s answer to the Olympic Games.

S500: Newton's third law of motion was…
LG: No motion without commotion.

NAME: Amanda Chetwynd

ORIGIN: Auckland, NZ

I AM: Watching

S500: What do you like the most about black and white?
AC: It helps give the illusion of great photography.

S500: The best advice your maths teacher ever gave you was…
AC: Go and pay a tutor to help you, cos at this rate you won’t pass your HSC.

S500: You’re the most creative when...
AC: I’ve just jumped out of the shower.

S500: What would you consider yourself to be a fan of?
AC: Squares

S500: millythinksimrad.com is...
AC: Mine

NAME: Nelly Assayag

ORIGIN: Sydney, AUS

I AM: Learning

S500: Your earliest photographic memory was…
NA: Getting my photo taken with our old family camera that had a red casing and needed sticky tape to keep the flash held on!

S500: The best thing you ever read in a photography book was…
NA: “Photography is about capturing and preserving images” – The dummies guide to photography.

S500: Describe your favourite photo.
NA: I don’t think I could choose just one. There are nature photos that can take your breath away, or photos that are your favourite because they make you laugh remembering the moment it was taken. There is a collection of old black and white or incredibly faded photos, of my parents in the 70’s in Morocco which completely capture a moment in time. My mum is sitting on the bonnet of their old Fiat which had been broken into, the entire scene looks like something out of an old film. The photo taken by Kevin Carter showing a starving Sudanese child being watched by a vulture makes me want to cry when I look at it. I didn’t realise photos could be that moving until I saw it. I could go on…

S500: Name one person in the world that you'd love to shoot.
NA: Shoot with a camera I presume… I am just happy taking photos of people I know so no one serious or too important. A photo shoot with Robin Williams would probably be pretty fun.

NAME: Scott Dingle

ORIGIN: Brisbain, AUS

I AM: King, the new fragrance from Sean John

S500: If you weren’t a professional photographer you would be…
SD: an amateur photographer.

S500: SexyVeg will be bigger than Google because…
SD: clean underwear is more impressive than algorithms.

S500: What advice would you give to someone who wants a career in photography?
SD: Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.

S500: millythinksimrad.com is…
SD: destined for greatness.

S500: Photography is similar to boxing in that…
SD: it is more about the shots you take than the ones you make.

NAME: Katherine Eustace

ORIGIN: Jo'Burg, RSA

I AM: Curiouser and curiouser

Long hair or short hair…
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty, oily, greasy, fleecy, shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen, knotted, polka-dotted; Twisted, beaded, braided, powdered, flowered, and confettied bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied!

What I like most about black and white is…
...There’s no grey area.

Photography is similar to architecture in that…
…Anyone can do it - the degree doesn’t mean shit.

What I like most about my nude work is…
…Letting all the wobbly bits hang out. Numbies!! (A synonym for boobies. Most popolarly used in Southern Africa, with its etymology most likely starting with one of the native tongues.)

Describe your favourite photo
Home of my heart. Land of my birth.
Smoke-coloured stone and flame-coloured earth.
Electric skies. Shivering heat.
Blood-red clay beneath my feet.
Never complete. Never whole.
White Skin and an African soul...

NAME: Mr. X

ORIGIN: ?

I AM: In the crowd