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EDUCATION is often said to be the key to success but for Lungelo Freedom Mngomezulu it’s a different story. Despite a lack of University-level training, passion and hard work have seen him become a successful photographer.
- What got you into photography?
- I always had this dream of working with people, I also loved being a script writer, and I was good at it, but then things didn’t go according to my plans because I had to try to get a camera so that I would be able to make my own movies. Then I met a guy from church who was a photographer and I always envied his work. One day he asked me to accompany him to one of his gigs — that’s where everything started. After that, people started calling me a photographer.
PS: Did you study through a University?
LM: Well I didn’t go to the University at all and I believe that if you want to be successful in life, you have got to work hard.
We are all given chances to succeed, even though for some it is hard because other people say that you are not professional if you don’t have any piece of paper which shows that you qualify to be something. Instead, I believe that if you work hard, you can be what you want to be, with or without education.
PS: What encourages you to be a great photographer?
LM: There’s a line from Nasty C’s song which says, “They told us education was the key to success, so how the drop-out succeed? I think they need to confess. They all got in without it” and that’s what encourages me to do even better in my craft of being a photographer.
PS: What has the journey been like for you?
LM: Amazing and challenging at the same time.
PS: Please tell us about some of those challenges you’ve faced.
LM: People looking down upon me, they complain about my rates and others don’t want to pay me. Actually, working with people is not nice sometimes because they usually take you for granted.
PS: How do you overcome it though?
LM: Well, I pretend to be tough although it is hard because, if I succumb to what they are saying, I will never be successful in life.
PS: So what’s your message to young people other there?
LM: Firstly, they should know what they want, also where they are going with it, and they should do something because they have love for it not because of their friends and families.
They must stay focused and have patience because success is not something that happens overnight. Rather, it takes time and it doesn’t matter how talented you may be because talent won’t help you if you don’t give your all into it.
