Photographers! Certainly not the people we collect cheese from,
we give cheese to them in
exchange for shots. They beg, call, demand and
even order for it basically
because they understand that saying cheese is a
sure way of exposing all [or
almost all] of your teeth. “Say cheese!”,
seemingly stands for smiling and
that’s the business of these professionals
we have allowed into our events,
occasions, birthdays, wedding and also our
lives. They are the capture experts,
clicking and placing us in poses that
make the memory lane, museums and walls of
time! Pictures tell stories,
photographers tell stories with pictures-as aided by light
(Photo). In Nigeria, there are these remarkable “story tellers”
and quite a handful of them seem to
be very significant today- talking about
status and relevance. In the beginning
it was not so; once upon a time they
ranked side by side with road side artisans
that can never rub shoulders with
the rich set of people in the society. Today
the story of these story
tellers is one that has developed into an enviable
industry, one that can
make rich investment bankers consider a career
change. When H.S. Freeman,
Emmanuel Rockson and Alfred Mamattah started
professional
photography in 1888 it was a case of freed slaves and slave descendants
with wealth of experience in portraits, reports, adverts and
architectural photos, coming to Lagos to
practice as well as train
interested and educated people living in Lagos ,
Abeokuta and Ibadan. Other
keys that contributed to photography growth are the
early church missionary
invasion from the west and the colonialism. This saw a
lot of Nigerian
soldiers and early Christians receiving photography training and
thus was
birthed the golden era of “pinhole-box-cameras”.After the First
World
War, military photographers who trained in the colonial period came
back to
Nigeria and that saw the National Professional photographers
association created
in 1947. Around 1963, photography was part of the daily
business
of the people especially in Ibadan, where passport photos, wedding
photos,
birthday party photos, Convocation ceremony photos), and obituary
photos became
regular . We are presently in the days of color-photos, a
revolution that started in the
seventies and in this generation we have gone digital, with
freelancers and CEOs’ in
photography striving and contributing their own quota to the
development of the trade.
In this era a lot of challenges have been eradicated, one can
actually be photographed and get printed results
almost immediately, say
within an hour to be a little precise. Call it creative provocation
and
I will say you are
right, Nigerians can boast of world-class aggressively sprang up studios from
all corners of the “green nation” with photo productions that can be
compared
with any professional job in any part of the world. Now we seem as
though
we have arrived in this industry where a one day photo project
can actually cost
from a hundred thousand naira to five million naira, depending
on who the client is.
Have we conquered the photo industry again? What next
Nigeria!
Mattson Ibadin, the CEO of Mattson Creation, a
photography
and multimedia outfit located in Lekki, says, “I have dreams of what
I want
to achieve with photography. With photography, I am thinking of what I
can
do for my country. For example, I am thinking of how I would use photography
to attract foreign investors to the country. I want to see how I can use it
to
make our tourism industry very lucrative. I dream of using it to re-brand
Nigeria. Until I do that, I won’t rest. It is not about making money through
photography but about what input I can make to national
development.”
The emerging photographers of this generation like
Mattson believes it is beyond photography- it is a national statement, putting
it in the words of Kelechi Amadi Obi, the “professional go-to” as far as
photography is concerned today in Nigeria “We have a large population and we
are
growing fast in numbers, and that for me is a readymade market with
effective
demand. We are blessed with a lot of learned persons; I hear
Nigeria is the
2nd consumer of champagne globally. As a Nigerian you have
limitless
possibilities. Unexploited unlimited possibilities, no other
people have such
advantage, I am sorry our brothers in the foreign world
have their issues, they
want to trace their history but it stops at slavery.
We are free born Africans
.what it mean is that as a doctor, reporter, you
can raise your fund locally.
I’m sorry the South Africans are damaged, the
colonial masters did a lot of
damage to them, I go there quite often and
it’s still the same story, they will
rise but they are not there yet because
there was a lot of damage. I have the
power to be great. I am Nigerian.
That’s what it means. I can’t judge myself
with lower standard, I should
compete with the best in the world, because I have
the resources here…this
is the country where you can become one of the richest
men in the world by
selling cement, Dangote has opened a door somewhere! This
is a country where
a black man can take over Africa in telecom and compete with
MTN, so I can’t
afford to slow down, have fun in what you do but take it
seriously, we are
already at a huge disadvantage culturally so we have to look
deep to
rediscover our selves. We are consumers and spectators drinking their
wine,
wearing their cloths, it’s beyond photography. It’s a cause, a
movement.”
Kelechi Amadi has so many various awards confirming his
brilliance with photo projects that one cannot but envy, this work-a-holic who
strives to be better in his craft with each passing day. He talked on
creating
value for your work as a photographer, “For me being a professional
means you
are a promise keeper. Meaning you will do what you say you will
do. The key is
how high do you want to go? It all depends on trust. when
people trust you to
deliver excellent service they will tell others and word
of mouth brings trust,
when people trust you to bring a creative work to
them, add extra value…that
extra value is the cost for advert for the person
will definitely tell another
person…never go down on it…if you can’t do
something, tell them; this one, I
need to do research on it…these are the
ways we create the brand, there is only
one standard ,the world
standard….somewhere deep into the heart of Nigeria we
have accepted that we
are not good enough and should not be compared with the
foreign standards
thereby accepting mediocrity. It’s a very deep statement we
make
everyday…it’s sad, we are comfortable with the local standard, they will
even tell you don’t do it. It’s above the Nigeria standard, but I always tell
them we are no longer in the days of dictatorship. I do believe years of
oppression caused this mediocrity; we were not always like this…Ogunde had
only
one standard…that was the global standard! Something happened to us
along the
line but we cannot succeed if we keep playing by the lower
standard, because the
professionals from abroad are coming and the Nigerians
respect these people.
When this world class people come, they will dump you
and you will lose your
job.”
“As a Nigerian, I have advantage over
other people, we have great responsibility to the black race, now we are in a
global world but you want to ask
yourself, what has the black man contributed to the world? The Japan brought
Canon, Japan made the cars, American has apple systems, the
English man gave
us his language, and aside complaints what else have we
contributed to the
world. Even the Chinese and Indians have awaken from
complains; we are here
complaining about NEPA. This is the only black nation
where you can practice
anything and still become a millionaire; you can carry
dirt and still become
a millionaire, one that can live at the choicest place in
the United States
.Think about it.” Kelechi charged.Photography is a skilled profession but
Kelechi, the publisher of Mania Magazine, warned that “We have to see beyond
photography as photographers we have caged ourselves and limited our thinking
waiting for the Whiteman to teach or lead, Fela was not
blind he saw,
understood and sang-“ my brother make you no follow book go look
am and
go”-he said “look am but go your own way”, Sometimes I say I wasn’t
schooled
in photography but it helps me because, I know there are no rules. The
things
we are taught was discovered by someone and we adopted it has a
curriculum.
why don’t we be a pathfinder finder. See the power of art, I saw
Beyounce
dancing galala in her latest video , can you see how you can drop
something
into the big drum called the global world, Its it’s deep. That’s what
drives
me. That’s why every day I am striving to tell myself that, I am not good
enough, Somehow people get the message when they look at my work, they see
Africansm without even writing it on the work. Like a biographer I am telling a
story, people need to know how we got to where we are now, that there was a
city like Lagos and it had certain kind of look at this time, how Omotola,
Ramsey Noah tried to contribute to the Nollywood
story..”
Now we have
grown into the era of digitalism photos are now mostly done digitally with the
DSLRs
anything is possible but are the old photographers keying in? In that
regard,
Kelechi had this to say “We can’t ignore technology but don’t chase
it. If a
particular technology will help you to bring out your idea, use it,
but don’t
believe that the technology is the idea, take it, make something
out of
it.” He also talks about the fact that our cultures are being stolen
by the white people while we the
blacks reject and dump it “that’s how
Picasso Collected primitive arts from
Africa and copied the style of drawing
into triangles and square, Picasso steals
it from Africa and says this is
cubism and people say this is the height of
European art. Take 7d but open
your eyes and bring out something different from
what they are bringing. So
many years ago after coming out of school I now
realize things have
completely changed I had to subject to training again” he
offered.
we give cheese to them in
exchange for shots. They beg, call, demand and
even order for it basically
because they understand that saying cheese is a
sure way of exposing all [or
almost all] of your teeth. “Say cheese!”,
seemingly stands for smiling and
that’s the business of these professionals
we have allowed into our events,
occasions, birthdays, wedding and also our
lives. They are the capture experts,
clicking and placing us in poses that
make the memory lane, museums and walls of
time! Pictures tell stories,
photographers tell stories with pictures-as aided by light
(Photo). In Nigeria, there are these remarkable “story tellers”
and quite a handful of them seem to
be very significant today- talking about
status and relevance. In the beginning
it was not so; once upon a time they
ranked side by side with road side artisans
that can never rub shoulders with
the rich set of people in the society. Today
the story of these story
tellers is one that has developed into an enviable
industry, one that can
make rich investment bankers consider a career
change. When H.S. Freeman,
Emmanuel Rockson and Alfred Mamattah started
professional
photography in 1888 it was a case of freed slaves and slave descendants
with wealth of experience in portraits, reports, adverts and
architectural photos, coming to Lagos to
practice as well as train
interested and educated people living in Lagos ,
Abeokuta and Ibadan. Other
keys that contributed to photography growth are the
early church missionary
invasion from the west and the colonialism. This saw a
lot of Nigerian
soldiers and early Christians receiving photography training and
thus was
birthed the golden era of “pinhole-box-cameras”.After the First
World
War, military photographers who trained in the colonial period came
back to
Nigeria and that saw the National Professional photographers
association created
in 1947. Around 1963, photography was part of the daily
business
of the people especially in Ibadan, where passport photos, wedding
photos,
birthday party photos, Convocation ceremony photos), and obituary
photos became
regular . We are presently in the days of color-photos, a
revolution that started in the
seventies and in this generation we have gone digital, with
freelancers and CEOs’ in
photography striving and contributing their own quota to the
development of the trade.
In this era a lot of challenges have been eradicated, one can
actually be photographed and get printed results
almost immediately, say
within an hour to be a little precise. Call it creative provocation
and
I will say you are
right, Nigerians can boast of world-class aggressively sprang up studios from
all corners of the “green nation” with photo productions that can be
compared
with any professional job in any part of the world. Now we seem as
though
we have arrived in this industry where a one day photo project
can actually cost
from a hundred thousand naira to five million naira, depending
on who the client is.
Have we conquered the photo industry again? What next
Nigeria!
Mattson Ibadin, the CEO of Mattson Creation, a
photography
and multimedia outfit located in Lekki, says, “I have dreams of what
I want
to achieve with photography. With photography, I am thinking of what I
can
do for my country. For example, I am thinking of how I would use photography
to attract foreign investors to the country. I want to see how I can use it
to
make our tourism industry very lucrative. I dream of using it to re-brand
Nigeria. Until I do that, I won’t rest. It is not about making money through
photography but about what input I can make to national
development.”
The emerging photographers of this generation like
Mattson believes it is beyond photography- it is a national statement, putting
it in the words of Kelechi Amadi Obi, the “professional go-to” as far as
photography is concerned today in Nigeria “We have a large population and we
are
growing fast in numbers, and that for me is a readymade market with
effective
demand. We are blessed with a lot of learned persons; I hear
Nigeria is the
2nd consumer of champagne globally. As a Nigerian you have
limitless
possibilities. Unexploited unlimited possibilities, no other
people have such
advantage, I am sorry our brothers in the foreign world
have their issues, they
want to trace their history but it stops at slavery.
We are free born Africans
.what it mean is that as a doctor, reporter, you
can raise your fund locally.
I’m sorry the South Africans are damaged, the
colonial masters did a lot of
damage to them, I go there quite often and
it’s still the same story, they will
rise but they are not there yet because
there was a lot of damage. I have the
power to be great. I am Nigerian.
That’s what it means. I can’t judge myself
with lower standard, I should
compete with the best in the world, because I have
the resources here…this
is the country where you can become one of the richest
men in the world by
selling cement, Dangote has opened a door somewhere! This
is a country where
a black man can take over Africa in telecom and compete with
MTN, so I can’t
afford to slow down, have fun in what you do but take it
seriously, we are
already at a huge disadvantage culturally so we have to look
deep to
rediscover our selves. We are consumers and spectators drinking their
wine,
wearing their cloths, it’s beyond photography. It’s a cause, a
movement.”
Kelechi Amadi has so many various awards confirming his
brilliance with photo projects that one cannot but envy, this work-a-holic who
strives to be better in his craft with each passing day. He talked on
creating
value for your work as a photographer, “For me being a professional
means you
are a promise keeper. Meaning you will do what you say you will
do. The key is
how high do you want to go? It all depends on trust. when
people trust you to
deliver excellent service they will tell others and word
of mouth brings trust,
when people trust you to bring a creative work to
them, add extra value…that
extra value is the cost for advert for the person
will definitely tell another
person…never go down on it…if you can’t do
something, tell them; this one, I
need to do research on it…these are the
ways we create the brand, there is only
one standard ,the world
standard….somewhere deep into the heart of Nigeria we
have accepted that we
are not good enough and should not be compared with the
foreign standards
thereby accepting mediocrity. It’s a very deep statement we
make
everyday…it’s sad, we are comfortable with the local standard, they will
even tell you don’t do it. It’s above the Nigeria standard, but I always tell
them we are no longer in the days of dictatorship. I do believe years of
oppression caused this mediocrity; we were not always like this…Ogunde had
only
one standard…that was the global standard! Something happened to us
along the
line but we cannot succeed if we keep playing by the lower
standard, because the
professionals from abroad are coming and the Nigerians
respect these people.
When this world class people come, they will dump you
and you will lose your
job.”
“As a Nigerian, I have advantage over
other people, we have great responsibility to the black race, now we are in a
global world but you want to ask
yourself, what has the black man contributed to the world? The Japan brought
Canon, Japan made the cars, American has apple systems, the
English man gave
us his language, and aside complaints what else have we
contributed to the
world. Even the Chinese and Indians have awaken from
complains; we are here
complaining about NEPA. This is the only black nation
where you can practice
anything and still become a millionaire; you can carry
dirt and still become
a millionaire, one that can live at the choicest place in
the United States
.Think about it.” Kelechi charged.Photography is a skilled profession but
Kelechi, the publisher of Mania Magazine, warned that “We have to see beyond
photography as photographers we have caged ourselves and limited our thinking
waiting for the Whiteman to teach or lead, Fela was not
blind he saw,
understood and sang-“ my brother make you no follow book go look
am and
go”-he said “look am but go your own way”, Sometimes I say I wasn’t
schooled
in photography but it helps me because, I know there are no rules. The
things
we are taught was discovered by someone and we adopted it has a
curriculum.
why don’t we be a pathfinder finder. See the power of art, I saw
Beyounce
dancing galala in her latest video , can you see how you can drop
something
into the big drum called the global world, Its it’s deep. That’s what
drives
me. That’s why every day I am striving to tell myself that, I am not good
enough, Somehow people get the message when they look at my work, they see
Africansm without even writing it on the work. Like a biographer I am telling a
story, people need to know how we got to where we are now, that there was a
city like Lagos and it had certain kind of look at this time, how Omotola,
Ramsey Noah tried to contribute to the Nollywood
story..”
Now we have
grown into the era of digitalism photos are now mostly done digitally with the
DSLRs
anything is possible but are the old photographers keying in? In that
regard,
Kelechi had this to say “We can’t ignore technology but don’t chase
it. If a
particular technology will help you to bring out your idea, use it,
but don’t
believe that the technology is the idea, take it, make something
out of
it.” He also talks about the fact that our cultures are being stolen
by the white people while we the
blacks reject and dump it “that’s how
Picasso Collected primitive arts from
Africa and copied the style of drawing
into triangles and square, Picasso steals
it from Africa and says this is
cubism and people say this is the height of
European art. Take 7d but open
your eyes and bring out something different from
what they are bringing. So
many years ago after coming out of school I now
realize things have
completely changed I had to subject to training again” he
offered.