The photos for this year's Spotlight of the Year exhibition were taken during an international photography workshop in South Africa.

Eight photographers from Algeria, Germany, Madagascar and South Africa attended this year’s workshop on the GTZ and KfW Spotlight of the Year. Cameras at the ready, they set out to explore Johannesburg and find their own take on the 2010 Spotlight theme, 'Diversity – Driver for Development'.

Berlin was the setting for the previous workshop in December 2008. Now it was the turn of the South African metropolis to provide the inspiration. The group spent a week shooting photos in the city's markets, slums and other areas. Along the way, they got talking to a wide range of people – with diversity and what it can mean as a recurring topic. The resulting pictures not only capture the participants' experiences and encounters in South Africa, they also reflect their interactions within the group and the discussions they had on diversity as a 'driver for development'. This process enabled the photographers to crystallise their initially vague ideas about what the phrase means. By the end of the week, diversity had come to signify choice, unfettered perspectives and active participation, even in situations where interests diverge.

The eight group members approached the subject in very different ways. The South African Thandile Zwelibanzi, for instance, asked the people he wanted to portray to hold up their hands before he took his picture. With their hands raised, people are defenceless and are forced to trust the photographer. The different ways this trust can express itself becomes apparent in Thandile's photographs. James de Villiers from Johannesburg used the workshop to rediscover his own city. For decades, he had not set foot in many of parts of the city which he and his fellow participants visited for their pictures. They were too dangerous for him. But as the others moved easily around these areas he went with them, and suddenly realised how diverse his every-day Johannesburg really is. He experienced the gulf between rich and poor more distinctly, he saw the influence of different cultures and religions, and he was impressed by the wealth of colour. This is all clearly evident in the images he took.

A selection of the photographs taken in South Africa will be on display throughout the year in GTZ-Haus Berlin. After the success of last year's exhibition, which was shown in Johannesburg, Lyon and other places, it will be interesting to see where else this year's pictures also find an audience.

Video documentation about the workshop

^{Photo: Rafik Zaidi. Rafik is from Algeria, where he works as a photographer and publisher of art books. He used architecture for his approach to the Spotlight of the Year.}

^{Photo: Abraham Elison. Abraham works as a consultant and photographer in his home city of Antananarivo in Madagascar. His focus in South Africa was the diverse styles of living he found among its people.}

^{Photo: Thandile Zwelibanzi. In his work, the South African photography student is most interested in interaction. For his series 'Hands Up', he asked the subjects of his pictures to raise their hands.}

^{Photo: James de Villiers. James lives in Johannesburg and works for the magazine Business Report. He says that the workshop has enabled him to discover his city afresh.}