Photography Rule-Respect Your Subject

Posted on by Anthony Nsofor

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Respect the subject. This is another rule for the photographer who is privileged to get up close into another person’s space with a camera. Sometimes as a photographer, I zoom in on the subject. Shooting models at Arise Fashion Show and shooting on the set of Lekki Wives, the recently released drama series produced by Blessing Egbe has been quite instructive.
I was invited to shoot the set of Lekki Wives by Emeka Nwokolo, my dear friend who also owns a shop at Ikota Shopping Complex. We met on one of those evenings I spend after closing, sitting to relax at Ritz Bar before going home, and we became good friends. I had my camera on that day, and gave Emeka a few tips about his newly purchased camera, and discussed photography in general. It was an easy choice for Emeka to get me to shoot on the set of Lekki Wives-one of the scenes was shot in the complex.

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Have you ever wondered why no one in The Palms ever looks ugly?! Lights just make flaws disappear, and the small details no longer count. Isn’t that what makes photography delightful-the interplay of light and shade just transforms the most mundane scenes into magical fantasies. So also, in real life and our ‘reading’ of people-we don’t get too close to them. We just ‘feel’ them, and are enveloped in their body language so much that the pimple on a face is not ‘remembered’, nor the scar from a vaccination.

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Using a camera with a wide aperture, or just getting an image in focus can cause all the minuscule details to show, making a beautiful face look like the surface of Mars. Lines translate to wrinkles and one sees the skin discolorations all too well, especially when one enlarges the image while editing on a computer, zooming to a hundred percentage sometimes. One thing photo editing has taught me is not to get carried away by appearances. I have also come to look beyond appearances when interacting with people. Image
Some people are repulsed by the Photoshop look. Of course it can be overdone. I personally prefer images that remind the viewer of the ambiance, of the real person being photographed. I would remove scars, discolorations and pimples that could disappear in a day or two, and stuff that could easily be corrected by creams or even cosmetic surgery. I work very subtly on the original image. It is a sign of respect. The subject let you in to his/her life, even if it’s for a second. It is that split second before the camera clicks, that magical moment when a character either puts on a mask or drops the mask.
The tedious acting on movie sets means every part will take many rehearsals, the repetition looks like drudge work. But I appreciate the beauty of the repetitive act that fine-tunes, and perfects the act, the art. It is so like the lessons of life, the performance of small repetitive acts which build up tempo, and our understanding of processes. We all play parts at all times, and our script changes with the spaces. The work of the photographer is to freeze, to immortalize the moment, following the light. He works with passion, like a griot who has been bestowed a great task of memorizing a monumental event for posterity. Photography literally takes one’s breathe away (you take a deep breath and hold it before clicking the shutter, for sharper pictures). Oh, did I tell you that i love this job?!Image

PAIN IS A DRUG

Posted on by Anthony Nsofor

It is easy to become addicted to pain. After being doused with sleeping injections to sleep off the deep pain, it is easy to start believing that one can forget the pain.

In this case, the pain comes from a my left leg, bruised and shortened from a series of surgeries after a night bus accident that left me hospitalised for six months;seven years gone, and the process of healing continues.

This rambling of mine has holes, and each gap could fill many papers with stories. Began writing this to analyse my response to personal pain, and how I have carried it. I prefer to sleep with the PAIN THAN TO TAKE A PAIN KILLER. The thought that frightens me is the fact that these drugs have addictive substances.

A friend in Bauchi, then an undergraduate in  the Ahmadu Bello University, had a drug problem that caused his head to twitch uncontrollably when he talks. Phinobarbiturates and tyre adhesives gum were cheap drugs the students took to get high.

When I was hospitalised in Igbobi, for a broken leg, I took a lot of painkillers to ease the pain. The nurses and doctors did not stop me. My relatives in the UK sent more painkillers. I became hypersensitive and active, casing my environment, spreading joy.

I failed woefully by trying to sleep away the pain, and when I do not succeed, I start working. When the work is not marketable, SILENCE. The work can overwhelm the space around. I still have a very cluttered space that I treasure so much in the house-paper, canvas, photographs and art materials are strewn everywhere around the five feet high refrigerator that doesn’t work. At the other corner of the twelve by twelve feet room is my old two horsepower air conditioner, unused because of the low current that the power company generates.

Like every right thinking Nigeria, I decided years ago that a generator is a must-have item for every home in Nigeria, even if its the small I-pass-my-neighbour Tiger generator that sells for a hundred dollars.

this is what the pain makes you do-drift on different memory lanes. Everything but the…Walking is a burden, and then everyday has a million distractions screaming for one’s attention. Sleep is only a temporary escape from reality, but another good drug is the absorption of the most pleasurable moments of the day-Mass, Relationships, Photography and Painting. And of course, the occasional sketches I make. It is also sad and true that no one even sees the pictures I paint. I wonder at art collectors who patronise me. All these ease the pain.

There is profit in work- an escape from the pain. Sometimes one gains instant gratification. And many times too, one falls  flat on his face. Fortunately, life has a lot of empty spaces for one to fit into. Time is passing by, but a middle-ager thinks he still has time. There is a life beyond mere time. A lifetime is ample time, and also small. Time all depends on the individual and how he wishes to experience life.

There is so much to do, and many places to go to, all life is an unfolding book. The pain is in the left hip now, then in my arched neck. I live with it. It will only make me stronger.