“I won’t try to sound deep by saying that I love nature or that I have always wanted to take pictures. No. I just loved to have my pictures taken. I loved going to the studio to take pictures and I always looked forward to getting the picture the next day. That was what attracted me to photography. Along the line, I got a clear direction – to be the person behind the camera, taking the shots.
That was in 2014.
From then on, the journey going forward was pretty easy. The more I did photography, the more I learned. The needed skills are got on the journey and I still keep getting more skills, even till now.
Starting out as a photographer, particularly a female photographer, is not so easy. Every time, you will have to prove yourself to your clients that you’re capable of making beautiful images like your male counterparts. Besides, no matter how strong we are as females, we still have our limitations. For example, standing for so long sometimes do no go down so well with some female peculiarities. In the end, it is the passion that drives me and with it, I have conquered very many limitations.”
Q: How is photography as a business
“As for my take on photography as a business venture, I’d say running your own business can be frustrating a times. You have to sometimes spend unnecessarily because of the failing system in Nigeria. Sometimes, I have to use the generator for a whole day to work on my images. The exchange rate too makes it difficult to buy equipment too. It is not easy managing a business in Nigeria, the system chokes the life out of you and all your efforts.
Sometimes, I actually feel like selling all my equipment and doing something else but every day, I remember that images locked in my mind must be seen in this world, so I keep pushing.”
Q: What two profound experiences have you had as a photographer that had reminded you of the importance of your work?
“Last year, I got a call about a bride whose wedding I had covered, recently. She had died. That news hit me. Her death was very painful to us and the family. In that period of loss, I remembered her laugh in one of the pictures I had taken. She had been upset just before I took the picture but I told her something (I can’t remember anymore what I told her) and she laughed. Then, I took the picture. I am happy that as painful as her death was, I was able to make beautiful images of her last happy days on earth. I am consoled that even though she is gone, we still have here on earth images of her beautiful moments and we believe that she is in a better place. This experience was such a profound one – it made value photography more. I, once again, learn the my work is about preserving memories for generations that will come even after when we are gone.”
