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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Entrepreneur wins four gold awards for photography by Surekha Galagoda Gamini Jayarathna Perera, an entrepreneur cum artiste created history by winning four gold awards for advertising photography at the SLIM Advertising awards ceremony held last week.
This is the first time a photographer engaged in advertising was honoured and I am humbly proud because only a handful are engaged in this field and this brings honour and recognition to our profession, he said when I met him after the ceremony. Perera said most photographers find it difficult to enter this field because unlike in other areas of photography they have to give what the agency requires within the shortest possible time while agencies prefer to work with the known photographers rather than try out new people. Therefore breaking into this field is tough and the job is stressful due to the responsibilities, but job satisfaction is high and that keeps me going. At present I have a staff of ten people working under me but all agencies want me to be there when photographs are being taken for a campaign. Therefore if I am available I get the job or else I lose it and this is the nature of our job because the Agencies are also working on a tight schedule to deliver the campaign on time. At present he works with all leading advertising agencies in the country. He was born in Kurunegala as the seventh to a family of nine children. His father was a storekeeper while his mother was a nurse. Perera studied at the Ibbagamuwa Central College Ibbagamuwa up to his Advanced Level. " I did Bio science." After the examination he did a course on Electronics and Computer Science and joined Fast Foto as a Trainee Lab Technician in 1984. It was a company owned by Jewel Art International. In 1986 he moved to Photochrome at Bambalapitiya and went overseas in 1987. "I worked for Colourbeam Photo services and was based in Dubai and had the opportunity to work in the whole of the UAE. The company was a supplier of photographic equipment for advertising photographers. The company gave me training in photography lighting in Germany, France and Switzerland. He worked in Dubai for ten years before coming to Sri Lanka to open his own company Colourbeam Photograhic Services. In addition to advertising photography he also has a colour processing lab. He is married to Nayana Dharshini who is a tower of strength to him. He has two daughters. Perera's future plans are to develop his career further and help youngsters enter the profession. He resides at 23/7 Sunethradevi Road Kohuwela. |
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