Erau uses photography to tell stories of the less privileged

It should have conjured sad memories, but for 29-year-old photographer Timothy Erau, coming across a picture of his late mother as a baby drove him to the need to value memories.

“The feeling was priceless,” he says. And years later in 2013, he graduated with a Bachelors degree in Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University, with a major in photography.

With the zeal to profile and document people’s stories and keep memories, Erau needed to sharpen his skill, thus going to Dolico Photo Studio as a photography intern and later joined Paramount Images Studio in Kampala where he covered weddings and introductions.

Creative ability
However, as a visual artist, weddings and introductions limited his creative ability, which prompted him to join 32 Degrees East, Uganda Arts Trust in Kansanga, Kampala.

“This helped me discover my niche as a light painting photographer. As such, I started documenting the less privileged and reconstructing scenes of significant value to the common man.”

He is also drawn to people that seek to change lives of vulnerable people in Uganda. “That is owing to coming from a humble background and learning that there is more to life than meets the eye,” he says.

But beneath that is also the guilt of not honouring his late mother’s request of taking a picture of her with his nephew when she was ill.

“All I told her was, ‘mum, please get well so I can take a good picture of you.’ Little did I know I would never ever get to photograph her until she passed on. This broke my heart and kept haunting me.”
Those moments are long gone and they can never be recaptured again, but Erau is choosing to make the most of each day.

Mentors
He owes his success mainly to his parents.
“It is because of them that I am what I am today. They always believed in me, giving me hope. They always said I was destined for greatness and advised me to follow my dreams, be humble, respect people, learn more and invest in my craft.”

However, he has also been inspired by Edward Echwalu, a documentary photographer and photojournalist, who has documented historical events around Uganda and across the African continent, many of which have been in areas of health, conflict and development.
With six years under his belt, Erau runs a company, Blink Media Productions, which he started in 2013.

He says he gets clients mainly through word of mouth and recommendations from clients he has previously worked for. “I also use social media platforms, with consent from clients, to advertise my work, hence appeal to clients.”
That said, the start was not a bed of roses.

“Starting up something has never been easy. One could have a vision or a brilliant idea on something but then end up never getting there. This is because of fear to fail.

“However, I have learnt that our deepest and greatest fear is fear itself. So through experience, I have learnt to risk and give a shot at whatever I wish to accomplish and the tactic is working,” he says.

Achievements
While at 32 Degrees, he was privileged to have a series of exhibitions in Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya, where his work also featured on BBC Focus on Africa that was hosted in Kampala.

To further expand his knowledge and clientele, Erau enrolled for a course in public relations at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
“This has enabled me do consultancy work in areas of public relations, photography, film and production for organisations such as ICNET Limited, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Unicef, CSI, Uganda Youth Development Link, and the Barrack Obama Foundation.”

Challenges
Erau’s biggest challenge is that photographers and photography is not well appreciated in Uganda.
“Clients are always willing to pay highly for any item such as decoration, and cake in the case of, maybe, a wedding or introduction, but as far as photography is concerned, with which they will keep memories of all that was on their big day, they are only ready to pay peanuts.”

Future
Erau hopes that in the near future, he will have a multi-media production house that produces content to help, guide and inspire anyone to greater heights.
He also hopes that with time, he will be in position to give back to the community and share his craft with young talented people that have interest in telling stories visually.