Students adrift as sponsors pull plug on funding

A PHOTOGRAPHER without film is like a painter without a brush. This is the problem for more than 30 students in Soweto since sponsors funding their photographic workshops cut ties in November.

“We need to come up with a way to fix this,” programme co-ordinator Victor Matom said.

The shutters are down on his studio at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown, and his students haven’t picked up their cameras since it shut.

While there is a modern studio available, an eager teacher and enthusiastic students who each bought their own camera, the issue is film, which, at R80 a roll, they can’t afford.

“I’m so frustrated because I teach photography in Germany, America and Japan. I create photographers there and give them my skills. But without funds I can’t do the same in my community,” Matom said.

The classes ran from Monday to Friday from 9am to 2pm, and there was never an empty chair.

“We didn’t want to teach paparazzi photography. The photojournalism market is flooded. We wanted them to learn the art. That’s why they shoot on analogue cameras, not digital. We developed our pictures in the sunlight. We didn’t want to photograph social issues like everyone else. We wanted flowers and saucers. Art. I feel for these young people. I can’t simply abandon them,” Matom added.

And it isn’t the first time the youngsters have been let down. Former student Nokuthula Mbatha, 20, said: “Before this, we had printing and etching classes for the unemployed youth of Kliptown, but the same thing happened. They ran out of money.”

She said the first time she took a picture was in the workshop, and it was love at first shot. “I love shooting pictures of children and even advertising. The camera lets me express myself.”