STRIVING IN PHOTOGRAPHY DESPITE PHONE TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT
Neutral Photography is a Botswana-based freelance action sports and events photography company owned by Kagiso Keorapetse.
Kagiso hails from Sefophe, a small village near Selebi Phikwe mining town. The home to Botswana former vice president honourable Ponatshego Kedikilwe and former national team football star Barnse Radipotsane. Neutral Photography has now ventured into a whole lot of photography genres to stay afloat. A very wise move if you ask because in photography one ought to be flexible, creative and ready for any challenge.
Keorapetse is a very huge fan of bike racing. When asked about when he started his photographic journey, his answer was quite fascinating. “I am not sure what year it was, but I would say 2014, when I completely stopped racing dirt bikes and picked up the camera,” he said. We all have moments we long to keep and keep rewinding because they define us. This is where keorapetse’s passion for action sports photography began. “I did not choose photography, i think photography chose me,” said the young Keorapetse.
They say some dreams come as an unforeseen blessing. Kagiso never thought of being a photographer when growing up. “I never dreamed of it,” claimed Kagiso. He was never curious about it even when he saw a camera or a photographer. It all changed when his racing career started demanding a lot of money that he did not have.
Thats where things started to shift for him and his life pointed to a whole different direction. At that particular point in time kagiso needed sponsors. His mind went wild, he asked himself questions like; what do sponsors need?, and advertising was the answer. At that point he knew that sponsors like to be seen and that’s when photography came to his mind.
We all want our bread buttered on both sides, but life is not always black and white. Kagiso needed his own personal photographer who would dedicate their time to capture him during his races, but it didn’t work out. Instead of giving up on the dream he started something that is inline with what he loves. He started capturing his friends racing.
What motivated him the most is that his friends grew fond of his shooting style and eventually money started flowing in. It’s very fulfilling to nail something that you never thought you could do. Kagiso’s passion for photography began to flourish in a field he always wanted to be a part of although he was involved indirectly. They say friends are few when days are dark, but during his dark days, his friends managed to help him build something he never dreamed of.
Thriving in this field was effective due to the fact that he was the only one who was doing motorsport photography by the time he started. Still on his side, he remains motivated as the market is not that saturated when it comes to motorsport photography. His area of focus is capturing motorsports, but due to covid-19 complications Kagiso learnt to juggle things up and shoot at any event and has found the fun in it. He has come to explore more talent that he never put to practice in his career.
Photography is a field of convincing clients to vouch for your work. For kagiso, nothing beats the quality of an image produced by a DSLR or mirrorless frame camera. Although phone camera technology has taken a huge step in convincing the masses that they do not need professional photos from photographers for their photos and videos, Kagiso is confident in the outcome of his work.
He went on to teach the masses about the importance of photographers in their lives. He also argued that purchasing the best lense for your camera is the best decision a photographer can ever make, in order to come up with the best results and give their clients good quality photographs.
The young photographer went on and gave a number of instances where professional photographers are needed. In wildlife photography, using your phone to zoom on a wonderful scene of lions busking in the sun will be a hustle, but with the help of a professional camera it becomes effective to capture every moment without putting yourself in danger. The images are always clear and there are low chances of your image being blurry, hence making the whole scene breathtaking, unlike when using a phone.
Kagiso is a man who believes in cleanliness. He believes that in picture cleanliness will always win and that’s what most clients always vouch for. “ You can throw me in a dumping site but I would still deliver clean images,” said Keorapetse. He went on to explain that in photography, one tends to know when and what to shoot the more they grow into the field as opposed to when you are still learning and less experienced. He claimed that it’s a field of improvement with time.
The public is so in love with the young man’s work. What excites him the most is getting calls to come and shoot a project that is not inline with the kind of genre he is focused on, he believes that it is exactly the one thing that continues to open doors for him. He went on to explain that photography is a line of work where you should be open to take on any challenge and try new things.
Keorapetse’s dream is to travel the world while shooting for racing teams, shooting at international events and making five thousand dollars a month which is a lot of money when converted to Botswana pula.
Keleabetswe is a 24 year old woman from Palapye. A product of Lotsane Senior School and Limkonkwing University. She loves writing..music and solving puzzles. Her dream is to be the best business and health news journalist.
