Neo Ntsoma

Independent Photographer / Based in Johannesburg

Growing up at a time when apartheid restricted access to photography education for young Black women photographers Neo Ntsoma overcame these challenges through her passion, determination and clear vision of the kind of work she wanted to... read on
Focus: Photographer, Photojournalist, Health, Environment, History, Documentary, News, Photography, Portraiture, Culture, Author, Visuals Editor, International News, Arts & Culture, Freelance, Civil Rights and Social Inequality, Assignments, Educator, Talent Development, Visual Communications , Human Rights, International, Creative Professional, Artist, Magazine, Editorial, Publications, Photo Shoots, Newspapers, Storyteller, Climate, Advocacy
Skills: Photo Editing, Curating
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Available in: Johannesburg
Focused on: Photographer, Photojournalist, Health, Environment, History, Documentary, News, Photography, Portraiture, Culture, Author, Visuals Editor, International News, Arts & Culture, Freelance, Civil Rights and Social Inequality, Assignments, Educator, Talent Development, Visual Communications , Human Rights, International, Creative Professional, Artist, Magazine, Editorial, Publications, Photo Shoots, Newspapers, Storyteller, Climate, Advocacy
Skilled at: Photo Editing, Curating
Coverage Regions: Africa Asia
Languages Spoken: English
Years of experience: More than 10
Growing up at a time when apartheid restricted access to photography education for young Black women photographers Neo Ntsoma overcame these challenges through her passion, determination and clear vision of the kind of work she wanted to create and the narratives that she wanted to tell. As a leading South African photographer with an international reputation she is sought after for her photography, her ability to mentor and her capacity to serve as a member of a jury on international photography competitions.

In 2004, Neo Ntsoma became the first woman recipient of the Mohamed Amin Award, the CNN African Journalist of the Year Photography Prize for her photo essay entitled, 'Their World in Flames', which documented the plight of families from a squatter settlement in the commercial centre of Johannesburg when their homes were destroyed by a raging inferno. Among many of her accolades, Ntsoma is also the recipient of the National Geographic All Roads Photography Award and the co-author of ‘Women by Women’, a book on 50 years of women’s photography in South Africa commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture and published by Wits University Press.

She worked for Sunday Times (SA) and The Star (SA) newspapers, before starting her own visual communications and multimedia company, Neo Ntsoma Productions in 2007, creating visual narratives for corporate clients such as Africa Business Network (ABN), Facebook Inc., Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and others. She has also collaborated with international NGOs like UNAIDS, Oxfam GP, Oprah Winfrey Foundation and International Medical Corps (IMC).

In 2006, Neo Ntsoma was named one of the ‘100 Most Influential Women’ by Africa’s largest media group, Media24, and in both 2004 and 2006 Cosmopolitan magazine included her in their top thirty “awesome women”. In 2019, Ntsoma was featured in the Mail & Guardian bulletin of Top 100 Women Changing South Africa.