EDUCATION BACKGROUND
2002 – 2008 (current) BA Honours degree in Social
Communication and Journalism at University of
Manizales,Colombia.
- Radio, TV, Film Photography and Journalism
- Corporate Communication and Co-ordination
- Cesares Award ’07 for the best news program team
2007 – 10 months course of English grammar and
Conversation,Cape Town, South Africa.
1992 – 1997 San Francisco High, Colombia, Chinchina.
- Secondary school focused in Sustainable Environments
- Elected as a Head Girl of the San Francisco High school
‘97
- General studies; Maths, Science, Philosophy, Spanish,
History, Arts and Drama, English
- Community Service; Film Documentary broadcast on
local TV to raise funds for children suffering from
cancer
EXPERIENCE BACKGROUND
2011 - 2016
Free Lance Photographer and Videographer
- ‘Digital Fire’
Videographer and Photographer
http://digitalfire.co.za/video/
- ‘Henley business school UK’
Videopgrapher and Photographer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnUHXGRi5M8
- ‘Street Wide Series Project’
Project manager and videographer
https://vimeo.com/30374249
- ‘Model Series’
Project Manager and videographer
https://vimeo.com/47997274
https://vimeo.com/48057335
- ‘Behind The Scenes’
Videoprapher
https://vimeo.com/27056143
https://vimeo.com/84194683
- ‘SAB Miller’
Brew Master profiles
2011 – 2010
Jan 2010 – May 2011 ‘Bad Pictures, Celebrity and
Sport Picture Agency’.
- Picture editor
- Website content manager
- Photographer - Videographer
2010
May – July ‘Caracol TV Colombia’
- Production Co-ordinator and journalist
for the South Africa Soccer World Cup.
2009 – 2008
Nov 2008 – Dec 2009 ‘Velocity Films, Cape
Town, South Africa
- Researcher
- Behind the scenes still photographer for OLF,The
Norwegian Oil industry Association advert “kiss”,
Allan Gray private investment management firm in South
Africa advert “James Dean, The Legend”,Bajaj Pulsar
motorcycle brand from India advert “Senior Jack”.
2008
March – October ‘Bell-Roberts Gallery & Publishing’
Cape Town.
- University practical, in-service experience
- Editorial photography, Advertising, Reportage for Artist
and Exhibitions.
- Film; Scriptwriting, Camera operator and Director,
Interviewing,Producing and Editing for a variety of
South African Contemporary Artists, eg. Katherine Bull,
Kevin Brand, The Essop Brothers, Rowan Smith among others.
- Photography published for first issue of Itch Online;
www.itch.co.za
- Work published in ArtSouthAfrica magazine, Snapped magazine
and Bell-Roberts online; www.bell-roberts.co.za and
www.artsouthafrica.co.za
2006
Short Film 16mm ‘Marina la esposa del pescador’ (Marina,
The Wife of the fisherman)Directed by Carlos Hernandez
- Art Researcher and Art Assistant
- Still photography
Orbitel ‘Voipiadores’ Advertising Campaign, Teleset
Productions, Colombia.
- 2nd Assistant Director
Bogota Cityhal ‘Solidaridad’ Advertising Campaign,
Fantastica Productions,Colombia
- 1st Assistant Director
Centre of TV production, University of Manizales,
Colombia.
- Communication Intern-ship covering TV and film
UTv News Student Cable, University of Manizales,
Colombia.
- Co-ordinator and Scheduling
- News anchor
‘Tribus urbanas’ Telecafe local channel, Manizales,
Colombia.
- Anchor and Journalist
- Co-ordinator
Hard Skills
- Photoshop CS6
- Lightroom
- Final Cut 7
- Adobe Illustrator CS6
- MS Office (Word, Power Point, Excel)
- Black and White film processing
- Videographer and video editor
REFERENCES
Available in South Africa and Colombia on request.
Email: paula@paulazapata.com
tel +27 (0) 71 414 4554
IN TRANSIT
I am a Colombian, I was born in a beautiful city called Manizales in the coffee region of the high central range mountain of Colombia, and not only the best coffee comes from this area but the kindest people too.
I have left my country and my city many times, and I have always returned to Colombia. Since I was a child I have lived enthralled with the idea of visiting far away countries, living in them, learning their languages and emulating their customs.
To a great extent that dream has come true because I have had the opportunity to visit several countries and to learn something about them. If I look back on those long and short trips, all of them for tourism, I had never ever before felt in love with a country like I felt for South Africa, since the first day I arrived here.
In many of those trips there was something missing. One day in one of my lectures of Philosophical Thoughts at university, we had an exam and it was about a beautiful phrase by Stanislao Zuleta, a Colombian philosopher “the limit of my world is the limit of my language”
I was doing my second semester of Social communication and Journalism, and I won’t ever forget this phrase.
When I used to travel it was so frustrating to meet people from Europe or any other part of the world beside Latin America and not be able to communicate with them, to tell them about my world, my culture so I realized how important it was to learn English, the universal language.
So with eight semesters behind me and two to go I decided to leave my Country, with only my 35 mm camera and a couple of jeans and t-shirts I left to travel around South America and as a final destination Ciudad del Cabo (Cape Town) Sur Africa.
We believe that we determine our own fate, but we don’t. “Life knows more than we do”. A relative of mine used to say, it is life that decides, not the voluble helm that is our own will. I arrived in Cape Town on the 21st of January 2007 with the only purpose of learning the English language; I had very little knowledge of South Africa except its political history with apartheid and a man known to the world as Madiba. It was an amazing experience roaming the streets of Cape Town and seeing such diverse cultures and enigmatic faces.
And here I am, after a couple of years, loving South Africa and feeling so grateful for all I have achieved up until now. I have had the great opportunity to work with the best contemporary artists of South Africa, one of the best Commercial Directors in the country and in the world, I was a producer for the biggest TV channel of Colombia during the World Cup, I have photographed beautiful events and people in South Africa, I have met lovely people, I have an amazing family back home, a special life partner and an gorgeous daughter who are living this dream with me. Life couldn’t be better!
Now a new chapter of my life is about to start, my photography career begins right now right here, now it’s my time to add value to this hard industry in South Africa.
Enkosi Afrika!
