“Photography is also a dream career”

By: Palesa Makanyane

ATOK

A mechanical engineer student dropout is making his mark as a young self-taught photographer.

Katlego Leshega (24) has dropout of college last year to start his photography journey. He explained that he never wanted to study mechanical engineering to begin with; his dream was to enrol on graphic designing. Unfortunately, his parents were against the notion.

This young local photographer from Atok, Mogalatladi started taking free pictures to advertise his work.

“I would go to taxi ranks to take free pictures and at that time I did not have all the right equipment.  It was me, my camera against the world whilst my parents were against everything i was doing,” Katlego said.

Fortunately, Katlego held on to his passion and taught himself everything about photography on YouTube. He said it’s hard to convince anyone especially parents that you love something unique.

“Our parents believe that one cannot make a career out of photography, modelling or music. It’s time we teach and show them the greatness within those fields. I would have been far if I got the chance to study graphic designing,” he said.

He believes that he still has time to study what he wants. Katlego is a motivation himself, he wants to advise everyone to believe in themselves and do what they are passionate about. He shared his amazing journey through photography and further added that he started using his home as a studio but it limited his creativity. Currently, he is working at his studio in Apel Complex and things are going as he always wished.