#RapShootr | Gettin’ Lost In The Music With Andiswa Mkosi
Words By Tseliso Monaheng
#Rapshootr's a series of interviews with photographers who engage different elements of hip hop culture throughout the African continent with their practice. Some already have their own platforms while others are igniting their own fire beneath the radar of an international gaze.
Andiswa Mkosi is one such and for our inaugural edition, the Cape Town-based cam handler told us about the first photograph she took as well as her thoughts about on-line mediums and the opportunities they present to artists such as herself.
How did photography find you?
I was supposed to study film but I landed up in a photography class and I just did not fight it.
What were your first experiments with the camera?
Pinhole photography. The first image I ever consciously made was with a pinhole camera we made with a box at Varsity as part of an assignment. I think I still have that picture somewhere at home.
What inspired the choice of the set of images you've shared with us?
I love photo graphing musicians while they are performing, generally because I am one myself so I am inspired to make images of them the way I would love to be photographed when I am performing.
What is your favourite subject to shoot? How did you stumble upon it, and why the subject specifically?
A number of them but at the moment, musicians/performers.
It strongly has to do with the fact that I love music a lot, so when photographing performances I get lost in the music and I focus on another level while making the images.
Why: There are special moments on stage, I live to anticipate these, finding the one thing an artist constantly does when performing and freezing that in a moment.
Do you have any people who've influenced your style of photography?
Various people but there is this guy called Nemesis. Ja neh. That guy, his photography, see for yourself.
Have on-line social portals helped you in your photography? How so?
Yes, a lot! Its easy nowadays to put together a body of work on Behance, share it a bit and the right people come across it with opportunity. I mean for me personally nothing major has happened yet but I mean in terms of places to host and present my work to the public a lot.