Through the lens with Seitshiro
Dumisani Ncube | Friday January 13, 2017 18:00
Seitshiro specialises in different forms of photography that range from wildlife, portraits and maternity shoots. Through the help of social media she has been able to market her craft by posting her various works, which have earned her bookings from various clients.
Some of the maternity shoots have couples posing together, with some just having the pregnant subject.
Her maternity shoots are always striking and have earned her a status within the photography industry. She always comes up with creative concepts when it comes to maternity shoots.
“I love working with pregnant women, I am always patient with them and I know how they are supposed to be treated and handled during a shoot,” she said. With knowledge for different forms of photography Seitshiro noted that before a shoot, she visits the location then visualises how her subject will be placed during the shoot. “For some people they do research before their shoots, but I am comfortable with going to the location of the shoot then I visualise everything”. She runs her own photography company called Boii KS Photography that sees her driving around town on a regular basis going for shoots, meetings and location viewing.
Seitshiro noted that she enjoys her work, especially if people get to ask who the photographer of her works is, and she tells them that it is her work. She said they always respond by saying they thought it was a male photographer.
“I always tell people that photography grew on me. The truth is I used to have a love for pictures growing up till I enrolled in tertiary where I attended a photography module, which charmed me in no time. I had to lie to my sister telling her that at school they said we should purchase cameras, which she did then I started having online tutorials on Youtube”.
With time Seitshiro played with her camera taking pictures of different subjects up until she noticed that her work had improved and in 2015 she decided to register a photography company,.“The first two years were tough, I could go for two months without a booking. With time, I started getting bookings almost every weekend, because I did not lose hope and kept pushing despite the struggle of not getting booked”.
Upon taking her craft professionally and registering, Seitshiro started investing in equipment bit by bit. Despite finding her feet, she noted that she had to quickly learn how to handle the business side. “You should be administrative, and have everything on paper, including your bookings, payments and contracts”.
Seitshiro said she has noticed that sometimes clients will complain about her charges, and decide to go to photographers that charge less and they end up with standard work.
After settling in the photography industry and getting bookings regularly she entered the President’s Day competitions, and ended up in the top 20. “Despite not winning, I realised that my work has improved, because I was in the top 20 out of more than 100 people contesting”.
Seitshiro said she is able to take care of herself and has become a self-reliant woman, with the income she makes from her photography. She joins renowned female photographers like Fifi Lowen, Ont Photography and Fifi Monosi.
Seitshiro is a final year Journalism and Media student at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology.