The Market Photo Workshop in collaboration with Lupane State University Photography Master-classes

The Market Photo Workshop in collaboration

with Lupane State University Photography Master-classes

©Tendai Marima A woman walks back home after filling her bucket with water in Cowdray Park, a western suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. Cowdray Park, a low-income neighborhood established in the 2000s, does not have a piped water system and residents have to rely on underground wells and the council’s water-point. The pictured woman is walking home after filling her bucket at the council premises, one of the few points with safe tap water. As a result of poor rains Zimbabwe is experiencing severe water shortages and frequent water cuts and due to a long-term rehabilitation project at the municipality’s water works, the city experiences frequent water cuts which can last for days at a time.

Tendai Marima is a Zimbabwean freelance journalist, gender researcher and photojournalist covering sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature with Goldsmiths, University of London.

Tendai Works and Contributions:

TheGuardian

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/25/cyclone-idai-mozambique-my-family-needs-to-eat-i-dont-know-how-we-will-survive?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

News Deeply

https://www.newsdeeply.com/womensadvancement/articles/2018/05/30/protesting-wives-win-backpay-for-husbands-and-training-for-themselves

https://www.newsdeeply.com/womensadvancement/contributor/tendai-marima

Al Jazeera Africa

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/profile/tendai-marima.html

©Tendai Marima At the watering hole: A woman arranges her water buckets at a council water point in Cowdray Park, a western suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. This is one of the few taps that provide safe water to residents, the council opens the tap in the morning and it runs until the end of business when council officers close the tap. A low-income setup during Zimbabwe’s years of turmoil in the 2000s, Cowdray Park does not have a piped water system so the residents have to rely on the council taps and underground wells, a less safe alternative.

I started taking pictures in 2014, but I started to take a greater interest in the craft in 2016. As a journalist who works with online publications, being able to take photographs was a necessary skill, to me it’s something that comes with the job, it’s my of proving I was there, that I was a witness. However as my interest in photography has grown over the years it’s become much more than that, it’s not just snapping a picture, but taking a photograph is also a deeply personal process, which allows me to try and capture the moment, I feel. That’s what I’d like to explore more in photography, how to capture natural moments in a way that conveys a feeling or expresses the gravity or happiness of that particular moment I can see. Freezing that moment in the most creative way possible is what I hope to do with my photography.

The Market Photo Workshop training in Zimbabwe was the first real formal training I’ve had with photography, I’ve mostly learnt through reading online, watching videos and tips from colleagues while I’m out shooting. The Market Photo Workshop in collaboration with Lupane State University Photography Masterclasses has really helped me to learn more about my camera, shooting in manual mode puzzled me, as much as I’d take notes during video tutorials it would all go out of my head once in a practical situation so I was used to shooting in aperture priority. But having face-to-face interaction with the trainers to advise you on the technical aspects of photography was really helpful. It’s helped me immensely. The course assignments have made me more aware to think (!) before shooting and to avoid having clumsy or cluttered pictures. I’m glad this course really helped get out of my comfort zone, I’m making (baby) steps in the right direction and I look forward to growing stronger as a photographer.