A former correspondent of the Limpopo Mirror and a founder-member of the Vhembe Media Association, Mr Elijar Mushiana, is the 2012 Sowetan Photographer of the Year. He received R3 000 and a certificate during an event in Rosebank last Friday evening.

The editor of Limpopo Mirror, Mr Wikus Lee, says he is very proud that the newspaper continues to produce journalists who are counted among the best in the country. “As a community newspaper, we make sure that we give full support to our personnel, including training and individual career development assistance. We are very proud of the success of our present and former members of staff.”

The founder and advisor of the Vhembe Media Association, Mr Wilson Dzebu, was equally jubilant about Mushiana’s achievement. “He is one of our own and we are delighted by his good work. Beating all his counterparts from all the provinces of South Africa is a great achievement. Great photographers like Mushiana don’t do different things, they just do things differently.  He is a unique photographer who conveys what a thousand words cannot. We hope other young journalists will learn that even people from disadvantaged backgrounds can succeed, based on their attitude and zeal to work hard.”

Mushiana says it takes more than just a nice camera and a desire to take pretty pictures in order to be successful in this creative yet technical, professional field. “A good photographer is one who notices things others are oblivious to. Most of my photos are of ordinary subjects, but are taken in an extraordinary manner; be it lighting, angle, contrast, background, foreground and focal length. Keeping on learning new things every day makes my photographic skills grow every day.”

He added that he was not surprised when he was announced the 2012 Sowetan Photographer of the Year. “I deserve it. This is the culmination of my efforts over the past 20 years in the journalism industry. I would like to thank everyone who supported me throughout. Special thanks to the Limpopo Mirror for giving me the opportunity to realise my potential.” 

The editor of  Sowetan, Mr Mpumelelo Mkhabela, said that the editorial team had selected Mushiana for this prestigious award because he displayed hard work, dedication, creativity and extraordinary photographic skills. Mkhabela said Musiaina was employed as a photographer, but he went the extra mile by also writing good stories. “The company is proud to have a good person like him and we are still expecting more from him,” Mkhabela said.