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What began as a desire to give his friends the chance to preserve high-quality visual memories of their sports experiences has become, for Bocar Diallo, both a passion and a profession. In March 2023, he launched his own photography business in Winnipeg: Bo Creative.
Originally from Senegal, Bocar Diallo arrived in Manitoba with his parents and two younger sisters in 2010. A graduate of Collège Louis-Riel and later the Université de Saint-Boniface (USB), it was there—specifically around sports fields—that he discovered his passion for photography.
“I started to love photography four or five years ago through sports,” he explains. “Growing up, I was an athlete. I played several sports, especially basketball, but I realized I didn’t have any photos of myself while playing, none of my moments. All those sports memories now live only in my mind, my head, my heart.”
“That’s when I had the idea to take photos of my friends so they would have keepsakes of their own sports moments. I bought my first camera and started taking pictures of my friends who played sports.”
Bocar Diallo adds that even before focusing on sports photography, “I already really enjoyed analyzing photos of top athletes, especially from the NBA.” Colors, lighting, angles, positioning… all details he had already become familiar with before putting them into practice.
“To train myself in photography, I used YouTube and books, like Photography for Dummies,” he continues. “I also have an uncle on my father’s side who is a photographer and taught me the basics. He’s not a professional, but he’s the one who took all my baby photos.”
Encouraged by his mother and supported by the CDEM, Bocar Diallo eventually formalized his services by creating his own photography business: Bo Creative.
“It was my mother who suggested turning it into a business project and connected me with someone she knew at the CDEM, Salimata Soro. That was over three years ago.”
He recalls a process that was “much more complicated than I thought. I believed all I had to do was register a business name, but I also had to set up a business bank account and many other things. Overall, it took about six months to officially create my photography business, and I received a lot of help from the CDEM and my mother.”
Among the challenges he faced was choosing a name. “I had many ideas, and it was hard to find the right one. I wanted something bilingual that would be easy to pronounce and understand in both official languages, to attract both French- and English-speaking clients. And I wanted it to reflect my creativity. In the end, I chose Bo Creative.”
Another obstacle: a similar business name already existed in another field. “We had to prove to the government that they were two different companies. That delayed the official launch of my business,” he recalls.
Once Bo Creative was launched in March 2023, the young entrepreneur was surprised by the technical demands of delivering and storing photos.
“I hadn’t anticipated how technical and demanding it would be. I was taking far more photos than I was used to, and I quickly had to subscribe to services like Dropbox or Google One to store and organize everything in one place. All of that made it easier to process and deliver photos to clients afterward.”
Today, Bo Creative is regularly hired by the USB Rouges and Sports en français to photograph their sporting events and banquets. Bocar Diallo also covers private events such as baptisms and birthdays, as well as corporate events like the CDEM’s annual job fair.
He also offers portrait services. “I have a large white paper backdrop and a three-light setup that I can bring and install at clients’ homes.”
He credits the CDEM for this diversification. “Initially, I wanted to focus on sports photography. The CDEM encouraged me to broaden my skills and range of services. But sports photography still makes up the biggest part of my work. It’s really what I love most.”
Still building his client base, Bocar Diallo is not yet working full-time with Bo Creative, but he hopes to make a living from it in the near future.
“Building a network doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a real challenge to find new clients interested in my services. I’m working hard so that one day I can do photography full-time.”
“What makes my photos unique is the way I bring colors into them and capture emotions,” he concludes. “Above all, I photograph moments.”
