Willam Moter, Aobakwe Seanego and David Ratsima from Gaborone, Botswana
One of the most important things that sets the entertainment technology field apart from most other career paths is that if you have passion, a willingness to work hard and are open to learning new skills on the job, you will be able to progress as a technician in a chosen discipline, no matter your prior level of education or life circumstance.
Both Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier, one of South Africa’s most celebrated lighting designers, and Roland Greil, one of the most prolific lighting designers in the world reinforced this fact with their own life stories, which they shared at the Lighting Designers Workshop, hosted by DWR Distribution at the Mosaïek Teatro on 18 February.
Joshua Cutts, Roland Greil and Duncan Riley at Lighting Design Workshop in Johannesburg
Professional lighting designers, lighting operators, students and fan joined Roland and Joshua at the Mosaïek Teatro to share ideas, learn from each other and, most importantly, inspire growth in the industry. While all that attended needed to make some degree of sacrifice to attend the event – be it a day’s pay or lead time on a project – three technicians from Botswana literally went the extra mile to attend the event.
Willam Moter, Aobakwe Seanego and David Ratsima took a ten-hour car trip, from Gaborone in Botswana to Johannesburg and back again to attend the workshop. “We have invested in a small lighting rig in our church in Gaborone, and when we saw that DWR was hosting a workshop on lighting design, with the best lighting designers in the world, we decided to come to find some inspiration to take back home with us,” explains William. “Our journey with DWR started some years back when we attended Mediatech in Johannesburg, and we have come to know and trust that the DWR team will always be there to help and guide us, and this is just another example of what the company does for the industry, not only in South Africa but for people from all over the region,” adds Aobakwe.
When asked if they feel that their enormous efforts where worth it, David says, “I will take a lot away from today’s’ discussions. Joshua and Roland both spoke about how important it is to work together with technicians across disciplines and, most importantly, with the talent that is performing on the stage that you are tasked to light. This is defiantly something that I am going to implement more carefully when I get back home, and I will try to teach the technicians around me similarly.”
Duncan Riley of DWR Distribution thanks attendees for coming
“I would like to thank each and every person that took the time to attend the Lighting Design Workshop in Roodepoort on Tuesday,” says DWR’s Duncan Riley. “When I heard that Willam, Aobakwe and David travelled all the way from Botswana to join us, I was so humbled, and it reminds all of the DWR family why it is so important to keep supporting the people – because we, as an industry, have the power to empower people and change a few lives – which is what it should be about.”
