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Tafadzwa Zimoyo

Senior Arts Reporter

Photography is an art. Its execution needs skill, space and determination. The final image is a product of many functions.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought serious challenges to one of the old professions, a profession that seeks to capture best moments. What with the masks, that have turned many people into ghostly figures of their natural selves?

While the camera can zoom in and out, while pictures can be cropped and indeed while touch ups bring the desired effects, it is the working environment that brings the much dreaded risk.

Newspaper, fashion, street and humanitarian photographers are the ones affected as their jobs entail working more closely with people.

Photojournalists are the ones at risk since they have to be on the ground every day to report the news during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview, some photographers have said life is no longer the same but they have to maximise to suit the situation.

Wilfred Dube of Wilmed Photography said because of the current situation, photographers needed to be creative in order to sustain livelihoods.

“I am an ambitious leader and fashion photographer. Right now most fashion shops are closed, with some models too stuck at home and this has affected our business. It is difficult now to operate but however, I have found other mechanism of doing shoots at home then can exhibit them on social media. Online platforms are the way to go. I am taking time to re-edit old and new pictures of clients. Playing around with them has made me survive because I will be charging for that,” he said.

Dube said people need to understand that photojournalists do more than just tell stories — they document unprecedented moments in history.

“They are at the forefront of world events and crises, documenting pivotal moments like the COVID-19 pandemic. This is totally different from us,” he explained.

Another popular humanitarian and family photographer Timothy Manyange said his story is a little different from others, but felt sorry for the street photographers.

Manyange proposed policies and grants for local photographers to survive during this lockdown time.

“I do humanitarian work, but we are also at risk because we meet a lot and different people with different backgrounds and upbringing. It is much difficult to survive now, especially the lockdown. We need to unite and come up with grants to give photographers too, it is also a profession just like medicine, law and education. Most, if not, all street-photographers are stuck at home and we need to support them,” he said.

Manyange said they are struggling to find customers for photo shoots.

“We need to experiment with creative ways to capture the times via applications like Zoom. As the COVID-19 outbreak escalated, clients began cancelling photo sessions. I just had to figure out a way to continue to do Zoom photography shoots,” he said.

He added that through Zoom shoots, he has gained a huge following on social media.