NEWS | PHOTOGRAPHY

Genre: Photography

Company: CollinsK Multimedia

Country: Malawi

City: Lilongwe

 John Robert (born on), known professionally by his label “Cine city” which him and his friend Slade Sambani aka Astrol coined in 2016, is a professional photographer based in Lilongwe.

Born, on 30 August 1994 Robert is a…. born in a family of six; two brothers, and three sisters.

He went through the corridors of Robert Blake, and Madisi secondary schools.

Currently, he’s pursuing a course in Business Management at the Malawi Polytechnic.

*Life and career*

A mobile photographer at present, John is working with CollinsK multimedia, a South African Company which is opening its branch in Malawi anytime soon. The multitalented photographer, who’s inspired by cinematographer Sukez, began his passion for visual still images without any professional cameras.

In 2015 he could only use mobile phones to do some art artworks, cartoons and “other Photoshop crazy stuff”, though the initial purpose for cine city was cinematography.

And that’s how “[we] came up with CINE and we knew what we started will grow, and we had to call it a CITY.

However when we got our first camera we couldn’t be limited with what the camera does…”.But John had to switch to photography but still keeping the label.

Even though he started off without a role model in photography, John respect works by Phrey Willz, Just Jeromy, Zeeya, and Bensam.

And although he has no studio, the famous wedding photographer also works with the likes Astrol, Rj, Formular of UTA WEAR, Bonny, and Shawiz.

*Moments of Reflection*

a) Best moment

His whole family finally accepted the path he had taken of being a Commercial photographer; a feat they did not like in the first place.

b) Worst moment

His maiden wedding shoot ended in disarray after one of his photographers he had hired lost all the footages.

Robert was forced to pay damages to the client. To make matters worse, the said photographer had already gotten his dues (by Robert) by the time this incident came into the light.  

How he does it…

And with only few photographic tools: two cameras which are T2i and T5i types, a speedlite, a tripod stand, a reflector and couple of different lenses, the skill that John employs is enough to “connect with the client’s mind on what type of pictures s/he likes.”  

His life philosophy

 “Do what he loves; not what everybody expects out of him”

*Achievements*

Although he has no award, Cine city is always booked and has travelled to a lot of places in Malawi. And his goal is to write a chapter in Malawian history with a vision of becoming the best cinematographer as well as a photographer in Africa.

*Some interesting trivia*

-Cine city has never won any award

-He is a diehard Liverpool fan

-He has no favourite color, but his closet is full of red garments.

-He has no favourite artist, but loves good music

–Cine City has taken pictures of Busy Signal during his live performance at Civo Stadium in 2016.

Profile compiled by Malchus