Meet Simone Kley – the 2nd recipient of the Ken Oosterbroek Fellowship Award
Simone Kley first started exploring with photography when her mom bought her a camera on holiday whilst travelling along the coast. She knew from then on she wanted to explore and travel. She completed two short courses at the College Of Digital Photography straight after matriculating from Crawford College in 2010. She then went on to complete the 2014 Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Programme at Market Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg. Simone is the 2nd recipient of the annual Ken Oosterbroek Fellowship Award. She shares her love for photography and how studying at the Photo Workshop help mould the photojournalist she is becoming.
What made you interested in photography?
At school there was a tiny dark room where I would go look at people’s photographs, It was so inspiring and I badly wanted to be a part of it too. Then, my mom bought me a camera in high school because I always used my cell phone. I took the camera everywhere; I started exploring more and wanted to see new things just so I could use it.
When did you come to MPW to study?
I came to the Market Photo Workshop in 2011 where I first did the Foundation Course.
Can you tell us about your journey during the PDP Programme, and how it helped you venture into photojournalism.
The PDP program was extremely helpful with guiding and training me better with time management skills, discipline, visual information as well as research and all the technicalities that come with it. Working smarter under pressure and performing under any circumstances was a bonus. PDP mostly gave me the confidence to speak about and understand my work better. It was an intense program that teaches you to think on your feet and that is definitely a great skill to have especially out in the field.
Lastly, what are you looking forward to during the fellowship, what do you hope to achieve?
I look forward to working with great mentors. I think it is essential to listen and take in what they have to say or teach because you never stop learning and that there is a lot of progress to still be made. I also look forward to the new adventures, stories and documentaries I will be taking on.
Simone will be interning at The Star as part of Ken Osterbrook Fellowship Award.
Learn more about the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Programme
