The Year Of Social Distancing
First off, I hope you and your family are doing well and staying safe in this crazy pandemic time! Start us off with a little background about yourself.
I am Teddy Msomi, a Photography Creative based in both Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa, whoβs work honestly speaks for itself. Different, bold, and a very rare sense of identification. I believe the concepts that I have been successful in executing are the ones that feel more natural to me. Hence my creativity is a reflection of me to some extent. I am 23 years old and besides being a photographer, I'm also an author, poet and musician. I love all things art and enjoy indulging in the different forms of art.
Have you been able to cope well with all that is going on?
I think this pandemic is really serious and it took a while for everyone to truly understand itβs seriousness. Honestly not being able to go out and do my everyday activities has been hard and frustrating to extent but I like most of us have been finding comfort on the socials. Working and brushing up on some of skills such as editing. With Everyone on their phones and constantly checking their timeline while being quarantined Iβm definitely using this time to showcase my work and share my latest collaborations.
What are some things you're doing to past the time and keep your mind off the Coronavirus noise?
Well creatives all over the world are sharing insight into their photography skills and expertise with other fellow creatives which I think is pretty cool. It gives me a chance as well to learn as much as I can about my line of work and improve and polish my own skills where I can. I've been also collaborating with other fellow UG creatives in retouching challenges which allow me to explore different editing techniques and see photography with a different perspective.
I feel like since mostly everyone is unable to do photo-shoots with other people or collaborate in bigger groups; it has either, hindered some creatives output totally, or for some creatives it has given them the opportunity to expose their versatility in the "Creative Entrepreneur" market space. Has "social distancing" been beneficial to you or not? Keeping the loss of business revenue aside. I know we're all hurting in that department.
It's been slightly beneficial to say as it has given me more time to look at my work and evaluate it from different perspectives, think of new fresh ideas towards my work and how I can better myself as a photographer and as a business as well. You know sometimes we never really get enough time in a day to thoroughly think things through and this quarantine has given me more time to do more self introspection.
We rarely dip into the "political world" but curious to know your thoughts on how the Coronavirus situation is being handled?
This pandemic does honestly upset me because it does limit us freelance creatives so much. As much as it is necessary for the government to take certain measures in containing it but the lockdown limits us so much. Some of us feed our families through the freelance work we do and this lockdown extension is deepening poverty for us. The government has taken measures to help the homeless but none to help self employed people in our country. It's upsetting and really frustrating as some don't know when and where their next meal will come from, how they will pay bills or buy necessities and everyday essentials.
What is a quote or saying you'd like to leave us with that could help brighten someones day?
βSome people are artist. Some themselves, are art.β
