By Rita Kalendera
Joyce Mollan, a freelance photographer, is an alumnus of Makerere University. During the Annual Media Convention 2023, Mollan won the Tebere-Mudin award for being the Best Journalism Student, a feat she was excited about. This was her first award: “It made me feel special,” she says.
Joyce Mollan taking photos
Mollan began her primary education at Uganda Marty’s School Mbarara. She then went to Sacred High School for Ordinary Level and St. Agnes Girls for Advanced Level where she offered a combination of Divinity, Literature and Art. Mollan later joined Makerere University and graduated with a Bachelors in Journalism and Communication. Her passion for photography developed when she was in her second year during the Covid 19 lockdown, which made many youths like herself bored as there was not much one could do. She was in her second year
“My little sister likes fashion a lot so I would take pictures of her,” she says. With time her interest in camera and photography flourished as she visited a relative who owned a studio, with the hope of learning the ethics of photography. When school reopened, Mollan was introduced to a class called photojournalism. Her first assignment was practical where the students were asked to take different photos portraying different principles of photography. She took a silhouette as her contrast photo though this is not what she had planned for. It worked for her however, and her lecturer appreciated it, and it gave her more confidence to start engaging herself in photography.
Focusing on her passion
Mollan continued taking photos and always shared them with different photographers who gave her reviews of having a “good eye” at taking pictures. Mollan’s father, who was interested in her education, bought her a camera. After graduation, Mollan’s friends were employed but she decided not to look for a job but instead use her camera to cater for her needs in Kampala.
Joyce Mollan on her graduation day
“But my father wanted me to go back home to Mbarara because school was done and said I had no business in the city,” she says. Due to her resilient nature, Mollan decided to make an agreement with her father, asking him to pay her rent for three months while she found out what she needed to do with her life. Around this time, she was privileged to get training with an organisation Cameras for Girls, an NGO run by Ms Aminah Muhammad, which trains young girls on photography. This training took six months, and added a lot to her photography skills.
“My work was posted on social media platforms, and I got referrals from friends to take graduation photos, birthday photos, baby shower photos and so on.” She also befriended a few photographers whom she moved with as they did their work. She would help them with lighting and other activities. In this way, Mollan got more exposed to camera work and she started going to different events like sports events to take photos with her camera. Senior photographers kept encouraging her, telling her what to correct and keep up with. It was through this that she learnt the basics and when to apply them. She was not paid to take photos but she did it to improve her craft.
Learning one step at a time
Her first photos however, at the St. Joseph's Vocational School - Mbarara Old Students Football League (Jovoc) League. disappointed her.
Mollan received her prize at the Annual Media Convention
“This was a bit different from the pictures I used to take. But my workmate encouraged me to embrace the photos because it was my first assignment and so excellence was not what was needed,” she recalls. Because the league had matches twice a month, Mollan kept going to take photos and started to master the art. With time went on different leagues such as Valley College League, the Mushanga League, the Nganwa Football League, and the Kagwa League contacted her to take photos as a stand-in photographer because people used to post her work that contained her name and logo. More opportunities arose when Mollan took pictures of Anne Kansiime during a Bakiga Nation gathering. She shared them on her twitter handle and Anne loved her work to an extent and shared them on her Instagram page. She was so motivated and believed she had the power to capture life’s beauty and do better.
Mollan continues to do her best in the field of photography. Her advice to students is to do their best at everything they are assigned to and embrace discussions amongst themselves.
When asked what has helped her come this way, Mollan says, “I look up to my mother because she instilled norms and values that have taught me to be comfortable with what I have.”
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