SSENYONYI TAKES SO MANY TO PLACES THROUGH EXQUISITE PHOTOGRAPHY.

Ever wondered how attractive, indulging and heartbreaking a photo can be? Well, as they say; “a photo speaks a thousand words”, What more figures of speech can be left unsaid with photos from the beautiful mother nature, well endowed with diversity to life that we often like identifying to because we feel we have been to these places, but only through pictures. Imagine just a mere photo with such magnitude to stir anxiety, admiration, and appreciation of places and things.

With the recent cyber trends and modernity, people all over the world have become accustomed to taking photos, videos of places they are visiting/have visited because it is the in thing! Many times we have all visited places and taken photos, but how much have these photos spiked off emotions, spoken life and given a positive face to things? Well, not any random photographer could give amazing pictures of the wild and nature. It takes a creative, patient, insightful and passionate personnel.

Meet Ssenyonyis Derrick, a Ugandan tourism and marketing photographer taking you to places around Uganda through his exceptional shots that he keeps sharing on his social media platforms ( under his name). He has fused his love for photography with his profession and has become known for his eye catchy pictures of travel moments, events and wild life that has made him the ultimate perfect guide for travel photography ,a Youtuber, backpacker traveler with extensive knowledge and experience of all Uganda’s travel destinations. This has earned Derrick an impressive client list from Ministry of Tourism,Uganda Tourism Board, Uganda wild life Authority,tour companies like the Grate lakes to mention but afew. Still yet, he does social media influencing for brands and can be reached for these services given his quality following.

Through His lenses, many users of social media have been driven to the warm and fascinating beauty of the western part of Uganda; climbing up the Rwenzori with a camera in his hands and a bag on his back for nearly a week yielding with him a couple of thrilling pictures of the snowcapped peaks of the Rwenzori mountain(mountain of the moon), he takes this passion down to the game parks of Bwindi and Murchison; bringing us closer to the chimpanzes,the tumbling serenity of Murchison falls and the cultural heritage of the peoples of that land.With his lenses still intact in hands; Ssenyonyi has overwhelmingly taken us through the eastern part of this country, capturing fun moments of his clients ziplining in mabira,bungee jumping in jinja,the sipi falls and the beautiful mountain Elgon, extending us through the plains of karamoja and its beautiful people; bringing to us the barely untouched, authentic feel of Africa( The karamojongs being majorly the only ethnic group that has barely been blown up by the winds of modernity and civilization, with high mantainance of their culture and norms)

However, all this beautiful artwork comes along hardwork, challenges, costs and unwavering passion. when I asked him how he finds his job, he says it requires high levels of patience,timing,creativity and enduring spirit.He points out a particular moment he was in Kidepo valley national park and the game rangers who had spotted cheetahs raised him to come quickly and have a luck at taking shots of the world’s fastest creatures only to chase after them for a while and yield no result as they had been chased off the territory by the buffalos; and on arrival his expectations of a cheetah were met with irony of a buffalo lying in the exact spot where the latter had been spotted. He still goes on to explain how patient one has to be in order to get best shots of creatures in the wild, imagine waking up in the wee hours of the morning; around 5:00am and lay in ambush waiting for the wild beasts and birds to begin their day and this is met with strict silence and stillness not to startle these animals from going on about with their normal routines. Sometimes since you did not make an appointment with these creatures,there is no guarantee you will see them move out of their habitants, so you wait in vain!

He is however lucky to have managed to capture unusual epic moments in the wild, like the king of the jungle consumating.We do not know whether he crossed the line of right to privacy (if animals have any, anyways) but such rare moments are worth shooting. Lions in captivity breed annually but in the wild it is approximately once in two years and it is indeed luck to witness this and roll the lenses to bring this to pictures.

Talking about his achievements, his mainly treasures the social networking aspect which comes off as a result of his very receptive,humorous and enaging personality with his clients that keeps them coming back and recommending others. Apart from that, his works have been nominated in prestigious Ekuula Tourism awards, Uganda Press Photo Awards and received a golden medal from Tooro kingdom for transgracing and showcasing the beauty of the Rwenzori mountain as recognition for his outstanding pieces of work.

Youths like Ssenyonyi who have beaten the odds of the ordinary graduates that spend too many years moving from office to office in search for white collar jobs should be supported by institutions in place of their fields of work, the marketing agencies of Uganda’s tourism and cultural heritage should come forward in employing the Ugandan youths in documenting events, information of this country by people who hold a sense of belonging and love for Uganda Rather than employing foreign companies to run the activities, till then the phrase “BUBU” Buy Uganda, Build Uganda will hold more meaning than the present rubber stamp signifance it holds. We cannot underscore the great role travel photography has played in promoting tourism of this country ,mostly of recent local tourism has been boosted strongly through dazzling photos showcasing different travel destinations which has attracted a good number of local travellers especially the youth and this is so with the help of exquisite photography.Thank you for sharing the beauty of the pearl of Uganda with everyone.