If you are close to me then you definitely have heard me say this at some point or the other in between conversations.
I remember how I started photography, on a totally random day in 2017, I decided to meet a stranger off. Twitter who served as a youth corps member in the same state where I schooled to discuss our passions, goals and what we wanted to do.
I mentioned I wanted to do photography and really liked the idea of having to capture moments, but there was me still getting an income of 15, 000 naira from my parents. How else was I going to be able to afford a camera worth 250, 000 naira as at then?
Out of curiosity, I blurted out and he explained how he knew photographers who started with their mobile phone. I looked at the Iphone 5 my father gave me as a birthday gift and just nodded I would probably start with it.
We had a drink after and parted ways, but that was not it. He kept following up and sending me images of people who used smartphones to take pictures and were doing really great at it, they were mostly documentary photographers.
I was fortunate enough to get one of them to actually follow me back on Instagram (Dr_Khalid), we spoke and I kept sharing pictures I took with this person I have also never met, who kept giving me feedback on my images.
Jeph was also there helping with articles coupled with my new found friend I really looked up to, fortunately I was one of those who had a large number of followers, I think about 7,000 of them then.
Khalid asked me during one of our random review sessions if I would like to review smartphone pictures for a brand, I was enthusiastic and mentioned “of course”.
Moved on and we continued our day to day activity, one random Saturday evening, I had a conversation with the Team at a smartphone company on Twitter, they asked I come into their office for a quick chat, I jumped into the next bus leaving Ado-Ekiti to Lagos the next day ready to talk to them at their office at Isaac John the following Monday. Alas,that was the ticket to my first gig.
We agreed I would be earning five zeros monthly for reviewing their smartphone pictures, it was a big deal because I also get to use all their smartphone that gets released.
Saved up my salary for a couple of months after and got my first camera, luckily for me also, I was able to launch the camera at the first Tecno Spark Event in Lagos. Fortunately for me, Jeph was also there with a couple of mutual friends.
I was able to take pictures of celebrities that attended since I was in the VIP session, got reviews and got my first official gig with a professional camera.
I was paid 20,000naira to take pictures at a burial somewhere in Akute, Ogun state. I was excited because I got the gig in less than 48hrs of announcing I got my camera. I ran to Arena Oshodi the following day, bought my first speedlight, the Godox TT520 at 16,000naira, paid my tithe and kept the remaining change for transportation.
The series of events that followed on that day made me make the decision of never taking any burial gig anymore. (I could barely take pictures of the corpse and edit them.)
Ever since then, I continued investing every revenue I got back into my photography business, and decided to learn cinematography and video editing also to expand my skills.
The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.- Chauncey Depew
In 2020, I worked with two major clients, worked with brands I wouldn’t have imagined, got my own apartment, went on a vacation eand got a car. I randomly remember all the impromptu travels and. having to skip classes and it has actually been a bittersweet journey. I still do not regret not making use of my accounting degree to earn a living
I was recently nominated for TFA Africa (Prize for film). I probably won’t be where I am today if I stuck to accounting.
Did the young actually grow?
PS: Rixel Studios now has a physical space and we are launching in March. Details about all the services we will be offering will be shared later . 😜
