For many now, Campus is something that they are counting on their fingertips as their stay is not long lived anymore. The question still lingers on in every finalist mind, What Next after Campus?. Some have it all figured out while others continue to ponder their next move.
For Ategeka Amos who is sometimes referred to by friends as ‘RIOT’, a 23 year old 4th year doing Journalism and Communication at Makerere University, it’s almost written in stone what his destiny is and what he will do after campus. The MAK finalist is seemingly already on the road to his passion which is his love for photography and videography.
“I do photography and filming mainly. I also do video production (visual production) Motion and still pictures’, he highlights.
He has consolidated a team of peers who also bear the same vision as he does and together they are earning and making it to big projects. The passionate fourth year Journalism student told this website how he has evolved from a struggling photographer to an established photographer.
“I started photography in my second year at campus and to be honest, I was inspired by the love one of my coursemates had for photography. So I started trying out some photography using lab equipment until I started getting the real art of photography”, narrates Ategeka
“I worked as a photojournalist at Eagle Online online newspaper but had the desire to start up my own company. A company that will sustain my family, cater for all my needs at campus. So jokingly i came up with the name Aperture,” he adds.
Asked what motivated him to set out and start earning from photography, Amos told this website that, “What really motivated me to start was being broke. I needed to get money in my pockets. I didn’t have any start up capital but just had an idea on how to do it. So I could use my client’s money (deposit) to hire equipment and get the job done,” he reminisces.
Challenges
Working and studying at the same time can be so hectic for one person in any normal setting.
“The greatest challenge I got while starting was fear! I did not have confidence in myself, I couldn’t trust myself with people’s work. Actually, I forwarded my first gigs to some friend who was already in the business which slowed my progress.” He adds that he gained confidence and started delivering.
Achievements.
Like any hustle, as long as you believe it will eventually pay off and it turns out to be a no-efforts wasted. Amos has earned himself big organisations to do for photography and this has paid off greatly.
“I was hired by Christ To All Foundation international, an international christian organisation to do photography for them.This was a great step and glory goes back to God. I have managed to rise my upkeep at university,” Jovial Amos tells this website.
‘I have managed to link up with different organisations around the world and recently I was part of the shooting team that did a documentary which was produced in Canada, I did the shooting in Uganda. I have achieved a lot and still achieving more. the sky’s the limit’, he adds.
The kind of business that Amos does is not one that involves daily earnings but rather based on the clients he gets in a given period of time.
On a day, a client can give him shs2million to do photography and on usual days he get less which keeps him running. However because he’s still building his credibility, Amos normally does work free of charge which helps him build his connections.
“I do work free of charge to certain people that I believe will be prospective to be someday and this helps me to build connections and a strong relationship with potential clients. Volunteering in any business is very important, someone can give you a job just because you volunteered in his /her organisation at some point,” he adds.
When he’s not working, Amos attends evening lecturers at Makerere University which gives him time to do most of his photography and videography work during day and late in the night.
“I barely sleep because I know i’m chasing something big, something that will transform my life. I always tell my friends that my first born will be a photographer and will own my company.”
What started as an idea is now going to be bigger and bigger and Amos believes he will get where he wants to be.
“I encourage fellow young people out there to put into implementation their ideas, they really make a difference.”
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