Putting passion to profession
“Everything I do, I do with all my heart, sometimes I give 150 per cent” the very graceful Mercy Sylvia Newumbe cheers as she explains time spent to capture that moment in Perfect Peace.
“It took me four hours to get this picture. You won’t direct a baby to turn this way or hold a pause still…but rather ask the mum to dress him in costume and give him all the time till he finds perfect peace,” she says.
This picture is a baby dressed in red bottoms with two black dots and head gear whose large black antennas indeed at keen view make the baby appear like a ladybird, contrasting brightly with the dark background.
New technology allows anyone to take a picture with their smart phone, but she thinks digital is less magical.
So, Newumbe developed conceptual photography under her business, Fancy Muffin Creative, where she creates new concepts such as a new born baby costumed as a ladybird, which a family can use for Christmas card greetings.
This makes the picture personal, but sweet and thoughtful so that whoever receives it remembers the baby you had that year.
It definitely also took a creative twist to fit the top view of Lake Victoria Serena Resort, Entebbe, to fit visibly within the blue eye in her Reflections at Sunset photograph.
With these two photos - Perfect Peace and Reflections at Sunset, showcased at the Art Colour Uganda exhibition, at Acasia Mall, Kampala, in May, Newumbe’s work exceptionally stood out. She, however, admits she did not wake up overnight and was good at photography. It took time, sweat, passion and tears.
Finding her passion
“I started taking photographs as a child at family parties. My father would ask, ‘Are we all in the box? Make sure we all fit in the box.’ Back then, it was all analogue so we would drop films/negatives of those whose heads were cut off.
And so many heads would be cut off,” she recounts.
“Photography is my very heartbeat. Simply from taking pictures at home I enrolled for a design degree abroad with a platform that taught me several modules of photography; starting off with the darkroom.
With just your hands to feel your way around, watching your images come to life in the darkness-is magic! It is something everyone who does photography should experience.”
Managing her business ethic
Even though she may not realise it, Newumbe speaks with the intelligence of a businesswoman. She discloses that even though most clients employ her because they know her personally, she makes certain Fancy Muffin Creative takes the credit.
Thus, if the business is struggling, her name is not dragged into it, yet if she is going through a rough patch, the business doesn’t suffer either.
At the exhibition, she showed only two photos because she wanted few that would stick to memory, showing the level of creativity one can expect of her work.
She otherwise insists that she rather not showcase if photos do not meet professional standards and won’t wow revellers. “As a new comer with a brand new start-up, my worry is how to get people to engage with my work,” she says.
“I am actually an introvert but I put away my shy suit because the more you speak, the more you relate and understand your clients’ needs.”
She keeps up with changing trends to understand the nature of business. “I can’t bring the same photos to the next exhibition.
I need to reinvent myself,” she says, stressing that even if someone copies that work, someone will always remember where they saw it first.
How does she do it all? “I don’t have the energy of a donkey,” she says, identifying why she has a protégé with whom to shares skills, to give back what God has generously offered.
Regardless, she maintains this process never compromises quality of her work.
Challenges and lessons
Financial constraints, Uganda’s very slow yet costly Internet and issues with copyright challenge and worry her. Having her work stolen is Newumbe’s greatest fear because when you engage with the Internet, anyone can download your work.
Despite scepticism, she registered Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the company name since Internet is global and once people love your work, they’ll call you no matter where you are. She advises one to brand their work and utilise the Internet to link it all together.
There are lessons you can only learn from experience, and Newumbe has learnt some things in business;
• No matter what it is, it gets hard before it gets better and know for a fact it gets harder and harder. But keep pursuing and don’t give up.
• To work with you, people expect a level of passion and professionalism. • Treat every customer super awesome; they will talk about you and call you because they saw you work.
Titbits
Fancy Muffin Creative
Away from conceptual photography, Fancy Muffin Creative’s portfolio also avails art direction, copy writing, advertising, graphic/interior/web design, branding, premium/corporate gifts, and Pro-Makeup.
Background
Born in Kololo, Kampala, Newumbe attended Kampala Parents Primary and Makerere College schools before enrolling for University at Limkokwing in Malaysia and Curtin University, Australia.
However, her passion for photography manifests in how she heartily speaks about it. She credits God, and her parents for supporting her dreams, never fashioning her to become a lawyer or an engineer.
