Alon is an award winning photographer. He earned himself an international
Picture of the Year award for his depiction of the Marikana Mine Massacre in
2012. He is the Chief photographer for the Times National Newspaper. He brings
us despair and hope, he brings us joy and insight. He brings us excitement and
he brings us knowledge. He makes us think, he makes us emotional. He is our
eyes, he is our view from afar. He is a visual story teller, a translator. He
is a news maker.
Alon Skuy grew up in the hills of Bramley, he was schooled
at King David and Eden High, leaning towards the arts and English.
His talents weren’t ignited by schools passing days. Nor was his future laid out for him after his musings through Israel and his wanderings through Britain. Neither did his vocational pursuit come by him with any obvious awakenings. But on his return to Jozi, he had to make a decision.
With an inkling for telling a story and an excitement for hearing one, with a keenness for dabbling in cultures foreign, he pitched his fork in journalism studies, but with no love to drive him and no passion to excite him, interest waned and he dropped out.
His talents weren’t ignited by schools passing days. Nor was his future laid out for him after his musings through Israel and his wanderings through Britain. Neither did his vocational pursuit come by him with any obvious awakenings. But on his return to Jozi, he had to make a decision.
With an inkling for telling a story and an excitement for hearing one, with a keenness for dabbling in cultures foreign, he pitched his fork in journalism studies, but with no love to drive him and no passion to excite him, interest waned and he dropped out.
He did jobs painting sets, and working the shelves of a
video store. He breathed life into a First Aid interest, volunteering for Ezra,
further getting buy on odd jobs and odd interests.
But a love for the arts and design stewed within him a simmering passion. He knew he loved things visual-images, the arts, and going places one wouldn’t ordinarily have access to. He knew he loved meeting extra ordinary people. He knew he loved colour. Maybe, he thought, it was photography that could be his means of expression.
Managing a bursary at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown , a photo journalism school begun by the great David Goldblatt, he gained a photographers lexicon, a jargon of sorts and a love for the dark room. He gained an insight into a photographers realm, into its being. But nothing too detailed. Only experience on the job would give him the tools that would make him special.
But a love for the arts and design stewed within him a simmering passion. He knew he loved things visual-images, the arts, and going places one wouldn’t ordinarily have access to. He knew he loved meeting extra ordinary people. He knew he loved colour. Maybe, he thought, it was photography that could be his means of expression.
Managing a bursary at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown , a photo journalism school begun by the great David Goldblatt, he gained a photographers lexicon, a jargon of sorts and a love for the dark room. He gained an insight into a photographers realm, into its being. But nothing too detailed. Only experience on the job would give him the tools that would make him special.
It was one of his lecturers Michelle Lokidis, who, having
taking an interest in the young Skuy, introduced Alon to Thys Dullart, a
photographer at the Star Newspaper and soon-to-be mentor.
With an internship at The Star, Alon got his eye in shooting when he could or doing admin when he couldn’t. Working 12-13 hour days, 6 days a week soaking up all that was informing him, adventuring on breaking news stories, covering sports and fashions events, meeting talented photographers and getting dirty in the field, his hard graft earned him a full time contract with The Star.
With a sharpened armory that he’d amassed at The Star he joined The Times National Newspaper after Robin Comley a picture editor who had worked with the Bang Bang Club, snared Alon. Having joined in 2007 he climbed the ranks to where he resides today as Chief Photographer.
With an internship at The Star, Alon got his eye in shooting when he could or doing admin when he couldn’t. Working 12-13 hour days, 6 days a week soaking up all that was informing him, adventuring on breaking news stories, covering sports and fashions events, meeting talented photographers and getting dirty in the field, his hard graft earned him a full time contract with The Star.
With a sharpened armory that he’d amassed at The Star he joined The Times National Newspaper after Robin Comley a picture editor who had worked with the Bang Bang Club, snared Alon. Having joined in 2007 he climbed the ranks to where he resides today as Chief Photographer.
Alon doesn’t speak of
the pursuit of a goal. He tells me he lives for each day, extracting as much as
he can from that day. He concerns himself with the immediate. He sees only the
now, though he does admit to some day hoping to publish a book.
With interests harbouring on music, travel, art films and
astronomy, Alon has a soul, he has a spirit, a certain humility.
His job isn’t linear, and it isn’t guided by structure. He
has to be at the right place at the right time.
The constraints of his job demand he be flexible and fast. To shoot while the trigger is hot, and to capture a moment in time, to tell a story, to do it with creativity and to do it beautifully. News photography doesn’t allow for a failed mission or sketchy mistakes, it is rapid and it is pressurised.
The constraints of his job demand he be flexible and fast. To shoot while the trigger is hot, and to capture a moment in time, to tell a story, to do it with creativity and to do it beautifully. News photography doesn’t allow for a failed mission or sketchy mistakes, it is rapid and it is pressurised.
‘Success is the opportunity to do what you love doing, it’s
about not being perpetually unhappy in a job you aren’t excited about’.
Alon expresses success by enjoying waking up and telling a story, by generating emotion and aesthetic and being able to communicate through images he has captured.
He offers me some advice:be free in one’s thinking, approach things differently, and hold back before you jump straight into something. Express yourself through your work.
Alon expresses success by enjoying waking up and telling a story, by generating emotion and aesthetic and being able to communicate through images he has captured.
He offers me some advice:be free in one’s thinking, approach things differently, and hold back before you jump straight into something. Express yourself through your work.
Alon, before he pays the check, muses, ‘You ain’t gona do well if you’re sluggishly
slugging away.’
