PHOTOGRAPHER
FOCUS
Terry February
Personal Background Although I was born in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast , my parents decided that I should be schooled in Cape Town . So , at the young age of seven , I started boarding with family in Athlone on the Cape Flats .
After completing school I was indentured as an electrical apprentice but never practiced as a qualified electrician . Instead , I travelled into Africa , Europe and Australia , eventually settling in Australia for fourteen years where I studied corporate communication . During my time in Australia I photographed many interesting landmarks , documenting architecture in Sydney and Melbourne . In 1997 , I returned to South Africa and was appointed Communication Manager at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( TRC ). There I used photography to build an extensive photographic archive . Those photographs are now part of the South African National Archives . Once the TRC had concluded its business , I studied for an Mtech PR Management qualification , then worked
as a strategic communication manager in the corporate sector . In 2005 , I left the corporate world and started my own company , Terry February Photography .
How you got into photography ? I am a self-taught photographer . My expertise came over time from many different sources . My interest in photography started during my school-going years . During school holidays as a young boy in Saldanha Bay , I would often sit on the harbour wall in the late afternoon watching the fishing boats unload their catches of sardines .
One of the men in our community occasionally photographed the fishing boats entering the harbour and when he showed me these photographs I was hooked . Those images were haunting and lovely , and my interest in photography was sparked . For many years all I could do was dream of owning a camera , until , at the age of eighteen , the dream finally came true .
Do you specialise in any particular type of photography ? Due to my time as an electrical apprentice on construction sites , my fascination with architecture and my obsession
8 Terry February