Photography is often seen as something immediate. A moment happens, a camera is raised and chakam! an image is made. While that may seem true on the surface, the photographs that stay with us, the ones that feel considered, clear, and lasting are rarely the result of speed alone; they are the results of intentional...
Before and during a shoot, I’m paying close attention to the environment. Not just the physical space, but the energy within it. Is the room tense or relaxed? Will my subject or client be comfortable here? Is he/she nervous or holding back? Is the pace too fast or too slow? Do I need to lighten...
When there is time, there is space to understand. And it’s not just understanding what needs to be photographed, but why that thing needs or should be photographed. Time is one of the most overlooked elements in photography. It’s easy to focus on what feels more visible – the camera, the lighting, the location, the...
Documentary photography trains you to pay attention. When you’re working in real environments, whether it’s on the street, at a public event or inside someone’s daily routine, moments appear without warning. There is no opportunity to repeat them or ask people to start again. Photography can be approached in many ways: some photographers focus primarily...
I’m not really comfortable in front of the camera – this is one of the most heard lines from clients during consultations Sometimes they say it with a laugh. Sometimes they say it apologetically, as if it might make the session more difficult; but the truth is, being camera shy is far more common than...
There are some events you attend as a photographer, and then there are events that are actually moments you step into where observation becomes immersion, and the line between documenting and experiencing begins to blur. Photographing the 2026 edition of the Fanti Carnival at the Tafawa Balewa Square and in parts of Lagos Island felt...
Every project begins with a brief. Which, depending on the client and other factors could be detailed, but sometimes loosely defined. But for me, the brief is never a checklist. It’s a starting point. What matters most is not just what is being asked for, but what sits underneath it. Before I think about cameras,...
Most of the work I do happens long before the camera comes out of the bag and by the time I arrive on set, I already have a sense of what I’m looking for — not in terms of poses or shots, but in terms of feeling, intention, and story. Preparation, for me, isn’t about...
Year 2017, in IYAT Female Hostel at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. I was feeling extremely bored during one of those non-academic staff strikes, you know, the ones with neither heads nor legs (if you catch the Yoruba drift). The entire campus was practically deserted—no power, no water. Lectures were canceled. The works department...
There is a quiet cost to cheap photos that often doesn’t show up immediately. At first, everything seems fine; the images are delivered. They’re sharp enough. They exist. But over time, something starts to feel off: “the photos don’t quite represent you”. “they don’t say what you thought they would”. “they don’t age well”. And...