Akintunde Akinleye is the first Nigerian to win the First Prize Spot News Single of the World Press Photo contest in 2007. His picture on the Abule Egba oil spillage fire incident, which claimed many lives in Lagos, was adjudged the best picture during the photography festival...more
According to Akinleye, photographers are important in the society, because they take pictures and document them, which serve as reference materials for researchers or the younger generation.
Akinleye is a photojournalist with Reuters Agency and, in a chat with Daily Sun, Akinleye speaks his challenges, role models, his forth coming exhibition, advice to younger photographers/ photojournalist, among others.
Exhibitions
I have had several solo and group exhibitions but most of them are done abroad. The reason is that I am a person who likes quietness. If you look at my works from those days, they have always been tailored along activism. I was an activist in school, and I became wedded to photography in such a way that I connected with what I was doing during my undergraduate days in school.
So, I carried that in my head that, when I am doing my job as a photo-journalist, I always want to be on the side of the people. I try to correct what is wrong and change the world from my lens.
My first solo exhibition was entitled ‘Pieces of a Broken Lens’, which was as a result of being beaten by policemen and Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos, in 2003.
It was when Oba Riliwan Akiolu was been installed in 2003. I worked and put everything together. Years after, I put things together with the help of Mr. Adeola Balogun in Amsterdam. Then my second solo exhibition comes up this month, April 19-May 3rd, and it’s a retrospection of some of my works I have done in the last five years. I have also participated in the Lagos Photo Festival, which is a big festival of photographs. So many people don’t know what I do, and it is the reason for this exhibition, I have been working quietly, so I need to showcase these works, especially the world press photo award. I am going to exhibit about 60-100 photographs, and they will be big enough to appeal to the audience, which will attract them to attend the exhibition.
Winning the World Press Photo contest
I am the only Nigerian who has won a prize from the competition, and I felt very great. About 10,000 photographs were submitted, while I sent only one, and it was a great thing. In this part of the world, they don’t take photo journalism seriously. I am very sure that, in a few years from now, people will begin to look towards this direction. There many people taking photographs, but, for me, photography is tasking, unlike those who take abstract pictures. Some people are fashion photographers, but photo journalists cover everything. The award was a big one, and I was really celebrated abroad, I was invited to attend many conferences where I spoke to them about the photograph that won me the award on the Abule Egba explosion in 2006.
What I look out for before taking photographs
Recently, I had a master class, where I taught participants about the use of photographs. Deep down, the basic things that we look out for in photographs are patterns, symbols as it applies to the art. There are things that run inside me most times, but it’s not just about me, it’s about human psychology, because photographs are related to the way we see and think.
Role models
My role model is Yousuf Karsh, because he has been able to take pictures of almost all the existing presidents in the world. When I was still in school, I read one of his books in the National Library, Yaba and I read the book. He actually inspired me to look deeply into what people think about photography. I read that he was able to control these presidents when he took shots of them. So, I felt that I also have the power to influence the society through my lens. For others, I just look at their works and admire them as professionals, and I try to see in ways that I can create ideas from what they have done. As an individual, you can’t be an Island, you need to share in other people’s experiences and take it from them.
The Master Class
During The Master Class, myself and other seasoned colleagues shared our knowledge as photographers, and we mentored young people on some of the basic things that they need to know about photography. Through photography, some people have been taken away from the streets and they have been able to make a living from photography.
Importance of photojournalists
The way that I work is different from the way photographers in the fashion industry works. For example, the kind of challenge that I face is different from the ones that they face. It also depends on the angle that you are coming from. Photography covers everything; it builds the society, keeps history.
There have been arguments that photographs can be manipulated but then there is no other way we can keep history. Either for good or bad, we can reflect back to our past by documenting history. There are certain things that we can’t photograph but we can use illustration. Photo journalists document history in such a way that distortion will be minimal and history preserved in a more believable way.
There have been arguments that photographs can be manipulated but then there is no other way we can keep history. Either for good or bad, we can reflect back to our past by documenting history. There are certain things that we can’t photograph but we can use illustration. Photo journalists document history in such a way that distortion will be minimal and history preserved in a more believable way.
Challenges
Photography requires a lot of energy because in studio photography, you can always sit down and arrange the individual. Its less tasking and risky but with photojournalism, you have to go out to take photographs and in the process you can get beaten or killed. Like many photojournalists in the past in Nigeria and abroad where the environment is hostile, some of them have been killed. Sometimes, the government may see a photo journalist as a spy who has come to take photographs when things are wrong. Through my experience, I have been beaten in the past by policemen but what pushes me is the passion. It is also tasking psychologically in that you must be a fast thinker and know how to put your story together in a pictorial representation that will last in the minds of the viewers and readers.
Camera used
If you want to take photography serious, then you need to invest in good equipment which in different sizes and shapes. At a deeper level, our work is embedded in spirituality because sometimes luck goes with it.
An individual may be unlucky and experience some challenges while others do not experience such challenges. Unless, an individual wants to become an investigative journalist where you cannot risk your life to be seen, then you have to get a more sophisticated camera to do your work.
An individual may be unlucky and experience some challenges while others do not experience such challenges. Unless, an individual wants to become an investigative journalist where you cannot risk your life to be seen, then you have to get a more sophisticated camera to do your work.
Advice to young photojournalists/photographers
I do encourage young people that they should not look for fame, because it will destroy their vision. You don’t just become popular, but you are really have to show your works then fame will come.
The story was first published in the Sun newspaper on Friday, April 10, 2015 on page 39
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