I must share something quite interesting. I know photography takes years to master and to start a company around it that functions successfully. One would think it takes years before people might look to you for inspiration. Never the less, it didn’t stop a school pupil in grade 9 to ask me about becoming a photographer someday. It was a school assignment that the pupil had and the aim was to find someone in industry that they aspire to be and ask questions about that profession. Interestingly, the pupil found me and emailed me questions. I want to share these questions with you as well the answers I gave the pupil.

1)            What does being a photographer entail?

Firstly, there are different types of photographers out there doing different kind of work. So, I’ll focus on myself which involve a lot of people photography. I don’t deal with journalism photography that much and that’s a different life altogether.

So here’s my world:

Being a photographer for me entails a lot more than just taking good pictures. It starts with your human eye and how you perceive the world. You will see and feel the pictures in your mind. From this mental picture, you need to translate it to the pictures people can feel too. So pictures from a professional photographer can entice an emotional response compared to any other ordinary picture. That’s where you stand out and that’s what people pay for. Your ability to sell your pictures and manage the business effectively is also important. Believe it or not, in the beginning of your career, its your business and selling ability that will get you success more so than the quality of the pictures. Only after you proved yourself in business and gain a reputation, the quality of your pictures will be noticed.

2)              What kind of personality would one need to succeed in this profession?

Photography is about building relationships with people so they get to know you and trust you in your work. It’s also important that they are comfortable with you which means having a personality that can really connect with people. So being a photographer is a person with an artistic ability to see the world through a camera as well as a charisma that attracts them to you and to your work. Success in photography depends on it and the people will always come to you because they like you. You never have chase them to do the work. Even if the photography doesn’t involve people, the pictures themselves will connect with someone. Another important lesson is to take the pictures that you feel are correct because people who really care about your work want to see your perspective and not what others see.

3)            Where did you study?

I actually didn’t study photography. I’m actually a full time engineer and I learnt photography by buying a simple point-and-click camera and learning it over 8 years. With time, I started to perfect the art and even today I improve it some more (learning never ends). I learnt my photography by simply doing it. This is the best lesson anyone can get. If you get a chance to study it, please do so. It will give you more insight more quickly. I didnt get that opportunity to study because I didnt have the time to study it (being an engineer) and I didn’t realize photography was my calling. I am the typical late bloomer, you might say.

4)            What is your favourite part of your job?

The favourite part is meeting new people and taking pictures in the way I like it. I love this work because I run it in my own way and provide pictures that people love to see. Best part of this, it is has tought me humility and to work with my clients by building a relationship first and doing the photos next.

5)            What are some disadvantages of being a photographer?

The disadvantage is the initial cost of starting a photography company. It costs quite a bit of money to get the right professional equipment. So to start, its important to have a good camera and 1 good lens. As you start to earn, you should build it up one by one. So it will take time, and patience is required to build your career.

Its been pretty eventful in the past month especially around the weekends. I’ve been casually talking pictures for the various events, parties and general meet ups with friends. I also travelled around with my fellow photographer to scout for locations for upcoming shoots.  We also went out to the city of Joburg to try some street photography with friends. There was also a day without electricity at home so I walked outside in the night to take photos of the street. There was construction outside on Charles St as they are extending the road to be larger. Surprisingly there was electricity on the other side and just not in our zone. It has been an interesting month. I’ve put together a random collection of photos of the past 3 or 4 weeks… just something out of the ordinary.

Vimage Media joined forces with Shemei Productions to do modelling photos together. The owner of Shemei is Shaney Maharaj who was also the contestant on Miss India Gauteng 2009. She won the “Miss Personality” title in that competition. Just to kick things off, I went to visit them and hang out a bit and take a few photos. Shaney came with her Mom and brought her very cute 4 year old cousin, Jaiden. He stole the show quite a few times from Shaney. Posing is in the family no doubt.

Here’s a special just for Jaiden

It was the long weekend in South Africa on the 10th of August which happens to be Women’s Day. What’s better than taking pictures with beautiful women on a nice long weekend away to Machadodorp in the always-magnificent province of Mpumalanga. The trip also included visiting Dullstroom, another lovely town. We were quite lucky to to enjoy some great sunny weather. It is quite certain summer is upon as as it is hotter than the last few weeks that we’ve had. All in all a great relaxing weekend of good laughs and a good braai. Having a quite dinner around the table was also quite different. So quite, it seems I chew lettuce quite loudly.

Went to a gathering of geeks (Netweb event hosted by Mongezi) in Capello’s in Ghandi Square. This is way into Marshalltown in Johannesburg and is quite a drive from Pretoria especially with the usual highway traffic. I loved the red lighting in this location and took some shots in the cafe. Not the best of cafe’s, I must admit, for they closed the kitchen by 7pm. Who eats supper before 7?! Anyway, the positive light of all this was the photo of Telana (the first photo). She owns an idea called “matchstick for an office”. An interest concept of giving one gift for another and then to hopefully arrive at an office (more here on http://onematchstick.blogspot.com/).

While Vimage Media runs in its own pace, I envision that it will start to grow in new areas and interests. In order to propel this, I’ve been speaking to a photographer named Disa (Dee Photography) who I met when she brought us Sylvia. You may notice a few posts of photos with Sylvia in the previous posts. Disa works through a fantastic network of people and has worked with some prominent people in South Africa. I loved her work and just meeting her, I could see how she likes her photos. Over the next few weeks I drew up an idea to work alongside Dee and she has agreed to work with Vimage. This collaboration will be huge for both of us. As it happens, it was her birthday recently on the 14th June. By accident, I called her on that day to find out she was having a party! She asked me to come and in the excitement, I bought a fine bottle of wine by Nederburg, a sauvignon blanc merlot, 2007 (yes, its a good year). I arrived at the party and we had a great time discussing how we could work together and for the first time I felt a synergy between us to get things going. I even brought my 5D Mark II camera and showed how I did my work. In that process I snapped a few photos of the birthday and it was joyous for everyone. The children were wonderful models to say the least. They were especially chuffed to see photos done in black and white.

It’s the Easter weekend and having quite bit of time to myself, I was able to reflect on my photography and started looking through my old photos. I discovered some gems and I was able to see my photo work growing. This is not necessarily by the quality of the photos but the growth of the photographic eye. This was a time when the name, Vimage Media, wasn’t even in my head. I remember buying my Canon 400D (sometime 2007), my first and still my trusty current one I use today. I chose the Canon over the Nikon not because it was better (they are basically the same and yes, I said it!) but because I had an older point and shoot Canon. It was just a transition, a knee-jerk purchase, if you will. I wasn’t really clued up about the camera or the lenses so I asked around for advice. The first lens that I purchased was the Canon 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM. This lens turned out to be quite good at a great price. An excellent starters lens even though it wasn’t quite wide enough on the cropped bodies. I still remember the first photo I took with this SLR, a picture of my mom taken at home in the dining area. The lighting is provided through the windows behind me.