Meet the pixels genius SaDee

Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
Many Zimbabweans have come across top notch and appealing stills on social media which have the trademark SaDee Lensworks on the bottom right hand corner but little is known about the man behind the pixels.

Born Mhondiwa Mhepo, SaDee, meaning the father of Denzel, is the creative director of SaDee Lensworks which is a fast rising visual production company based in Bulawayo.

The three-time Bulawayo Arts Award Outstanding photographer nominee who has been in the arts industry for more than a decade, SaDee has been able to merge his artistic experience with graphics.

“I started out in theatre arts where I acted and directed. My last theatre project was a Shakespeare adaption Othello where I played Iago and that was about eight to 10 years ago.

“Since then l have grown into photography, videography and editing where I am bringing out vivid pictures that capture the moment, the most realistic manner,” said SaDee.

The 38-year-old photographer has been in the photography industry for the past nine years putting much emphasis on the arts and entertainment scenery.

“l have been motivated by the love of arts as l saw a lack of visual and artistic content that covered the narrative media space in a clear manner. Bulawayo is the arts capital of the country and through my photography we are emphasising that point,” said SaDee.

He said SaDee Lensworks envisions itself as the go-to-hub for up-and-coming photographers in the next coming five years.

“Our core focus as a company is to amplify the talent at grassroots level and creating opportunities to the merging and talented photographers. Already the hub has three graphers operating from the space and that is me, Ernet and Hunters.”

SaDee added: “By training female graphers we are trying to balance the craft which is male dominated. We also want to have stories from a female perspective. I collaborated with other players for the first run of the training. We received overwhelming response all over the country as we received more than 70 applications yet we can work with at least 10.

We are considering doing this an online course due to Covid-19 restrictions.”−@mthabisi_mthire