Turkey Kiss

by Mike Rossi
 
Peter, a Xhosa man and his family breed pigs. Their entrepreneurial spirit has encouraged them to diversify by raising turkeys and geese. Their shack, small as shacks tend to be, is divided into three small rooms. I got a sense that he and his wife liked privacy from their kids; who doesn’t sometimes. I wanted to photograph in the cramped bedroom. I do not know how they got the bed in there as it was practically butted up against the corrugated metal walls. I suspect the interior wall was put in afterwards. On the bed there was a gorgeous bedraggled teddy bear. But I could not get the camera and tripod in. So I went to the sitting room which was equally congested. However, I was in luck as there was an exit door so I could move stuff out. With the camera against the wall I could use a 35 mm lens without too much distortion. I did a few variations but something was missing; they were a little bit introverted. I kept saying to myself how can I get them to open up? The bell eventually struck when I asked Vivian, Peter’s wife, to blow a kiss at the turkey. She loved the idea. I then asked her to kiss the male turkey. Nervous at first I egged her on. I was concerned about the bird pecking her. But the turkey seemed perplexed with all this attention. You can see the bird is quite indignant; maybe he was aware that his wife, Mrs Turkey was pissed off with the tenderness her husband was getting? Or maybe, he was just surprised a human being was showing him some affection.
 
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