Harare Blues

During the showcase of the annual World Press Photo exhibition a workshop is held for potential and already established photographers. This year’s World Press Photo workshop took place at the National Gallery in Harare from the 22nd to 24th of February 2010. The World Press Photo photography workshop was sponsored by HIVOS. It focused on improving great journalistic photography through tackling topics such as practical Digital photography, Digital Asset Management, Digital Photography Ecosystem and to distinguish the difference between a good and bad photograph that acquaint to exhibition quality material.  The participants were also taught how to upload images to website links and general photography practice with a bias towards photojournalism and documentary photography.

The 18 participants were given three photography assignments per day that fell in five categories that included street life, night life, lovers in the park, portraiture and lastly early morning and late night photos. These pictures captured episodes of the beauty of Harare at night, the Harare Gardens as a popular place for lovers and the City Centre life. Their images were ruthlessly critiqued resulting in the photographers showing great improvement in their practice of photography. The photos have not gone unnoticed as enquiries have so far been made to purchase some of the photographs on exhibition. The mini exhibition is thus a result of the assignments, the best images being selected for this show.

The participants came from different backgrounds, some with degrees in Photography, Art and Design, as well as street photographers, studio photographers and students studying photography at institutions such as Harare Polytechnic, National Gallery Visual Art Studios, Batapata and local daily publications. The workshop conducted by Tsvangirayi Mkwazhi and assisted by Calvin Dondo, in future hope to ensure that after a person has completed the practicum they should diligently and with keenness broaden their insight about the worthiness of photography. They further can inspire their team members, as well as draw inspiration from various success stories to carve their own niche in the echelons of corporate world.