₦airaland Forum

The Abiriba people of the Igbo extraction are unique people with strong cultural affinity. Attachment to their root is usually very strong and it influences a lot of things about them. Most of these influences by such attachments are the erection of beautiful mansions in their homeland, provision of basic public utilities for their people, ensuring that their people are well off in terms of business patronization and many others. But now, we will be a discussing a very important personal celebration affected by the culture which is wedding.
Generally in Igboland, traditional weddings are performed in the villages at the root of the bride. Both the celebrants and their well wishers are mandated to migrate to the bride's home town for the celebration. This practice is well known in Igboland though it is being challenged recently by economic and other factors. However, until recently all the weddings both the traditional and the church are done in Abiriba. I for detailed stories, go to:http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/08/05/the-unique-abiriba-wedding/

I live in a very interesting part of Lagos, a very highly urbanised area with many attributes of a rural area. My street which is very close to the bustop is a very short close and has mostly near empty plots. Some of the plots especially the ones near my compound have different kind of trees including Avocado, mango, coconut among others. In my compound we have three coconut trees lining up behind the main building.
The implications of having these trees are that, the rooms in our house are not so hot but very airy. Usually one does not need fan or air conditioner to sleep except in very extreme cases. Again, looking out through the window gives one a good view of the beautiful sky with the trees adorning one's view. But the most important implication here is the presence of different kinds of birds and lizards. For detail reading, go to: http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/07/08/a-peep-through-my-window/

Most times it's good to make adequate planning and preparations before embarking on photo shoots. The stories need to be properly researched and the expected outcome to be anticipated. The photographer should be able to choose the right location for the photoshoot. A lot of the time, after all the planning and preparations, the elements may come against the photographer and all those preparations and planning will be destroyed. Most experienced photographers usually adapt to the elements and takes them as a new guide for their stories by ignoring their previous plans. However, my story is about how I ran into very important stories and the major hit shots made.
The first major unplanned photo I made was the 'CMS at Night' shot made in mid 2013. It happened that I was returning from framing my photos in Lagos Island and got to CMS bus stop where we had to wait for BRT bus to pick us. There was very heavy traffic on the road that
For details go to:http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/06/16/my-hit-photos-that-were-never-planned/

It was early in 2014 when my friend Jimoh invited me to his home town Okuta for the Gani festival. Prior to that time, I had neither heard about the festival nor the community. But as a cultural enthusiast, I felt I should document this all important African festival. I gathered my camera and other photography kits for this all important festival. A day prior to the festival, we went to Iyana Ipaja park to pick a cab going to Saki in Oyo State which is the closest town to the place. It was more than six hour ride and we got to Okuta in the evening. I want to showcase the photos from the festival as daily Post below captured the detailed stories of the festival.
This year’s annual Gaani Festival in Kaiama and Baruten Local Government Areas of Kwara State held last week amidst glamour, glitz and razzmatazz. Weekly Trust chronicles the 300 years old festival which symbolises the unique and rich culture of the Barubas.
The Baruba nation in Kwara State came alive last week for this year’s annual Gaani festival which brings together indigenes of the communities at home and in the Diaspora. It was a celebration of culture and customs of the Bokobaru tribe and peoples which share history and tradition with the Borgu kingdom which falls in the North-Eastern Benin Republic and some parts of northern Nigeria.
The festival was celebrated simultaneously in Kaiama and Baruten Local Government Areas though the major activities took place in Kaiama Local Government Area where Baruten Local Government was created in 1991. As the sons and daughters of Kaiama, as well as dignitaries gathered to celebrate and felicitate with one another, Yashikira district in Baruten was equally bubbling with its own Gaani feast while Okuta district also in Baruten would be marking its own version of the festival this weekend. For detailed stories, go to:http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/06/08/gaani-festival-okuta/

Event photography usually appears very simple but most times a lot of professionalism is required to produce good results. Quite unlike wedding which procedures are already known, event photography covers wide range of activities. It include the more known ones like birthdays, end of the year parties, associations meetings, retirement ceremonies, church programs, child naming or christening programs, product launch among many others.
Usually the first thing a photographer should do is to find out the expectations of his clients since No two events are the same. So he shouldn't assume he already knows how to handle the event. Depending on the title of the event, each event has its own uniqueness and approach and style the organizers wants to use. The photographer should be able to find that out and the high points of the event before he even starts work. He should make out time to chat with the organizers of the event so that he can figure out how he will help them to achieve the aim of the program.
He must have all the required tools for the event. That implies that before the day of the event he already had a fair idea of what he was coming to do and what tool will be ideal to handle it. It will be wrong for a photographer to go out during the event to look for either battery or any other thing to buy. Usually camera batteries should be well charged before the event commences. For details follow the links: http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/05/25/some-tips-i-have-used-in-handling-event-photography/
It is also important that the photographer follows the rules the organizers of the event gave him. If he has suggestions to make, he should have made it during the initial chat. That gives the organizers the idea of the kind of innovations or changes to expect. Towards the end of last year, I covered an event for Linkedin at Four Points by Sheraton in Lagos. We had been chatting online before we met on the event

Please ignore such childish talks. It's usually carried by ignorant people. Abiriba people are the most hospitable people you will encounter in Nigeria. Ask anyone that has ever visited there before. It's also one of the most safest places in Nigeria. They have one of the most colorful cultures in Nigeria. Pls don't take my word for it. You can google it and learn more. Thanks

Abiriba is a very beautiful town located in the northern part of Abia State, south eastern Nigeria. It has a beautiful landscape that turns everyone into a landscape photographer. Apart from the rich cultural heritage, It boasts of the largest agglomeration of architectural wonders in any rural community in Nigeria. A lot of urban geographers will be tempted to give it an outright classification as an urban settlement based on the architectural and infrastructural developments. However, most people living there are indigenes and occupation is mostly primary occupations like farming which rather leaves the classification of quasi-urban as more appropriate.
The indigenes of Abiriba are well travelled and knows what is in vogue and this over the years has affected the architectural patterns in the town. People travelled to major cities across the globe only to come back home to replicate the architectural designs they saw. In some cases, folks have brought European architects to design their houses. The people cannot be said to be mere money-bags rather they are people of style. A story was told of how the great Zik of Africa named it the Small London in the 50's during his campaign tour of the town. The story had it that in the course of the campaign that Zik was pressed and needed the use the toilet and his political associate from the town took him to his house where he used a WC. A bewildered Zik came out to proclaim the town as small London because such facilities were only common in the western world. For details of the story, go to:http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/05/11/the-architectural-wonders-of-abiriba-a-photographers-delight/

Growing up, I used to dream of being a medical Doctor. I never knew the course of my life would move towards photography. As a secondary school student, I was a core science student even though I was very poor in mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. My very first close contact with a camera was when my friends and I borrowed a camera to capture ourselves in school uniform towards our final days in secondary school.
We contributed money to buy a 36 exposure film and finished it snapping ourselves at different places especially at such places where we knew we would not drag a photographer to. Some of such places gave us an aesthetic view of the town. I had my secondary education in my home town, Abiriba and my school was located in the most beautiful part of the town. Usually in photography, the most important thing is what the photographer sees and this is what distinguishes him from the rest. If he sees beauty, you are sure that he can create it but if he can't see beauty and aesthetics it will be hard for him to create it. In training a photographer, It is easier to train one on how to capture what he sees but very hard to train someone on how to see what to capture. Beauty can be seen in every little and seemingly insignificant things but the truth is some people can't even see it when it's bold and elaborate. So from this point I realized that the first indication to me that I was made for this profession was my ability to visualize aesthetics at a very tender age. Needless to say that we made a big mess of our snapping expedition because we never knew how to handle the camera. For details go to: http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/04/12/how-it-all-began-my-journey-into-landscape-photography/

One day in January 2014, I received a call from a friend to submit an entry in a photo contest organised by an affiliate company of Zinox Computers known then as TaskDirect but now as Yudala. The contest was about taking the beautiful Lagos photo with any medium available to you; phones, tablets or cameras. The first thought that came to my mind was to hurry up and submit my entry so I can win the contest since I had lots of interesting Lagos images in my portfolio. The first thing I did was to check out their website to see the terms and conditions attached to the competition. The major condition there was that one must present the photo in the medium that was used to capture it. That also implies that there would not be anything like post production or editing of the chosen image.
The next step I took was to start going out daily with my camera. It was not so easy to go out daily with it since professional cameras are usually heavy and adding it to a bag that already has a computer is a major weight gainer. The assignment was to capture the most beautiful picture of Lagos and it could be at any time or place but it must be unique and beautiful and must be uploaded from the camera at the time of submission. There are many beautiful spots in Lagos but one of the major challenges of capturing them is that when one gets to such places, one might be in a fast moving vehicle thereby making it difficult to click. One day, I went to visit my friends at the 20 floors Western House on Broad street Lagos, I jokingly told them about the competition and how I was going take the winning shot and we all laughed about it. I walked through the stairs from the first floor to the 20th floor and got up to see a very different view of Lagos Island which I knew was hidden to many. I started clicking till I was tired of taking shots. At that point, I knew that any one of the shots was the winning shot even though my major challenge was which of them would be the right one to go with.
The next day, I left the house to go and present my entry since the rule stated also that the presentation must be done personally with the medium of capture. So that morning, I went to the park and entered the bus going Oshodi which should stop at Gbagada office of the company. However, for the first time, the bus refused to stop me there giving some irritating excuses why it would not. Instead they took me to Oshodi which was way out of my direction. With that kind of driver's attitude, it became more obvious to me that I was going to win that competition and that every other thing happening was meant to discourage me from participating. The next day, I left from the office for details go to:http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/04/05/how-i-won-the-best-lagos-photo-contest-2014/

On the new year day, we made a visit to Ganvie in Benin Republic. It's a riverine community off the university town of Calavi. Once we got to the Calavi waterfront, we chattered a wooden boat and hired a tour guide and started our journey to Ganvie a town of not more than 10 km travel on the water. Unfortunately to us, this guy is nothing close to a professional tour guide because he could not communicate in English which would have given me a lot of opportunities to ask questions. He only communicates in French and Izon (local language of the Ganvie people). Secondly he doesn't know how to co-ordinate tours as I did not understand why we had to visit some of the places we did. However, as a photographer, I decided I was going to make every moment count by taking every possible shot at every possible moments.
I was so thrilled at the sight of a full community living in the water similar to what we see in Makoko but the difference here is that, the community does not live in makeshift houses as they do in Makoko. Most houses there were constructed with better quality woods and good roofing sheets contrary to Makoko's shanty houses with thatch roofs. Even though we travelled deep inside the lagoon to see the community, some places we saw were on dry ground. For instance, they have some cemented houses in the community including their Mosque which has a grandeurs structure. Again it has an Art market which tells stories of the history and culture of the people. There are lots of indigenous artists, painters, wood carvers and other art media on display. Some of the Art galleries are found in local hotels in the community. The very existence of these hotels helps the tourists feel much at home as they could spend a little more time in the town.
We visited as a family in the company of my uncle, his three children and their family friend. They live in Cotonou and I was their guest for the New year. Having seen the works I had done in Makoko, my uncle decided to take me to Ganvie so I could do comparative works. Even though I could admit that a one day visit was insufficient to work on any topic but the impact the visit had on me was enormous. For instance, I was so surprised to see Glo and Etisalat branded shops in that remote community. It was also expected to see the community as a predominantly fishing community in fact I was told that more than half of the fishes and other see foods consumed in Cotonou comes from there. However it was also interesting to find some people who lives there but do other works than fishing. For instance, I learnt that some people work as civil servants in both Cotonou and Calavi and they go to work daily from there. One of my biggest discoveries on that visit was that Ganvie people are of Ijaw origin. They are considered strange by other Benin tribes because they don't seem to share any cultural similarity like the way the Yorubas and Igun people and the other tribes share. So when I asked the tour guide the language there for details go to:http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/03/22/our-visit-to-ganvie/

In 2011, I left Nigeria for India to further a study in Photography in one of the numerous film schools in the capital, New Delhi. As a custome to most Nigerians studying abroad , we always like to combine some works with our studies. So I travelled with the intention of securing a job to combine with my studies which lasts for one year out of which six months must be used for classroom works while the remaining six months must be used for practical.
My major concerns though was how best to utilize my time while in India and make some money out of it too. I made a lot of efforts to secure decent jobs that could engage me during that six months but none could work out because of my visa status (student's visa) which does not allow me to work in that country. I got very good job offers from the Red Cross, Canadian High Commission and Convergys ( an American outsourcing company) with strong recommendations from friends. Each time I go for preliminary discussion, they always referred me back to my visa status. This situation made me very sad and my options of doing a decent job was seriously dwindling. Already, I had a very big pressure from the Nigerian internet scammers who needed someone with my educational qualifications and skills to help perfect their schemes. That path I had decided never to follow in the course of my life.
Then one day towards the Christmas of that year, a Nigerian friend came to my school to visit. He tabled the proposal of starting an African restaurant before me. Even though I did not liked the idea, but I accepted it since there were no alternatives. In fact I started factoring out how I would adjust into such job. He already had a lot of experience in the business as that was his current job at the time, for he was assisting one of his friends in his African Restaurant. Now he wants to start his own and wants me to be his partner. I reluctantly agreed since all my options were consistently being punctured by my visa status. For more details: http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/03/15/how-we-started-the-best-african-restaurant-in-india/

nonstan:
Baba okpa for nsk no swt at all..almost all families dey mk okpa...and d okpa no get those kind fine leaves inside oo

Lol. Students don't eat it out of love but out of neccessity. That's why we didn't emphasize the taste as many had not eaten Okpa once before coming to UNN.

One wouldn't have passed through the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) without eating the most proteinous beans in Nigeria, okpa also known as Jugo Beans or Bambara groundnut. Obviously, most students had not heard about the food before getting to UNN but it usually doesn't take up to two days to discover it because the vendors must certainly wake you up in the morning. The first time of seeing it, one might think it is moi moi that was badly cooked but on close examination, you will discover that it is stronger than moi moi and differs in taste too.

The beauty of okpa lies in the fact that it is very very nutritious as well as very very cheap. Most students resorts to Okpa alone after the first month of the semester when they have become very broke. But the most important thing is that okpa never let them down as it supplies the required energy and protein for such people ( It was jokingly said in UNN that okpa students...... Please read the details on http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/02/29/okpa-and-unn-students/

CREATING BEAUTY OUT OF NOTHING: THE ADVENTURES OF A PHOTO ARTIST
In Nigeria, photo arts seems to be the least known of all genres of art. In fact there are very few photographers who earns their living from it. Most photographers are busy competing on weddings and events that they miss out on one of the most important aspects of their profession. The excuse of not having buyers for the arts does not arise because we must create the products first before buyers come to appreciate them.
My ventures into the world of Photo Artistry started in 2013 when I first participated in an exhibition titled "The Revolutionary Artists Exhibition 2013" in which I exhibited alongside with other artists like painters, sculptors etc. at Oriental Hotel, Lagos. That exhibition did not just open my eyes to the potentials of a photo artist in Nigeria but it also gave me an opportunity to learn the processes of creating beautiful Photo Arts and at the same time put me in limelight.
Processes of creating a beautiful photo art
a. Making the shots: To me this is the most important of all the processes. It involves having a clear vision of what you want to shoot. what are those themes that you always like to capture? Does it have a story line? It could be anything that happens around you. Even though a ....... For details go to http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/02/22/creating-beauty-out-of-nothing-the-adventures-of-a-ph

emsco:
That's the life in lagos. I go through it alot as a cinematographer too. Do you do video camera job too, can i reach you?

Yes, I have a crew that handles the video jobs. We are about to start a series of documentary works. Call Philips on 08094311223 www.philipsakwari.com.ng

Lagos is a very interesting city. It is fast, hot and a blend of the very good and very bad. The good sides are the lovely aquatic scenes, the beautiful skylines that dotted the islands and other man-made and natural features found in all parts of the city.
As a photographer, sighting these beautiful phenomena like the early morning sun casting on the lagoon or late evening sun with its orange colors shining on the skyline of Marina pushes one to grab his camera to capture those God-given moments. You may want to take the shots from different angles to ensure that best shots are recorded. But hey, here are folks looking like they forgot their brains at home approaching you and what do they want? Well, they just want you to pay for the shots you are making. Simple.
My first experience was in 2014 in Marina after I barely started street and landscape photography in 2013. It was one beautiful afternoon when I was going to handle a brief I had with one of the Old generational banks. As I was climbing the Marina Bridge to discharge my duty, I started noticing some folks following from afar but pretending to be on their own. One was making calls probably calling his colleagues to join him on top of the bridge and within splits of seconds, here are criminals (Area boys as they are called in Lagos) alighting from different passing commercial buses surrounding me. They told me in plain words that I should pay them N20,000 before I embark on my photo shoot. Since I had not taking one shot at that point, I decided I was not going to make the shot again. I was totally ignorant of what was happening so I never made any preparation whatsoever to protect myself and my equipments. I told them I was quitting that job since I didn't even have up to N1, 000 with me there but when they threatened me and insisted I must make the shots I realized I was not going to gamble with my equipments so I started negotiating with what I had.
For details go to http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/02/15/diary-of-a-street-photographer/

Making beautiful wedding album is the joy and expectation of every newly married couple but it is just very few that achieves that. Blames usually goes to the photographer however, it is a collective responsibility of the couple and their photographers. Every responsible professional photographer ensures that he delivers quality beautiful wedding album to his client but every serious couple ensures that they find such a photographer.
However, apart from finding a good photographer, the couple must set a good budget for photography. In Nigeria, many couples prefers to spend more money on food and drinks than on their photos little wonder, most of such patronizes quacks who gives them very low budget photos. Photography is capital intensive so clients expectations should be commensurate to their expenses.
Whether it is a high, medium or low budget spending, the biggest input every couple must make in their wedding photos is their smiles. In most typical Nigerian weddings, the couples are usually involved in sorting one thing or the other out thereby distracting them from paying attention to the wedding proceedings. Most of them are either too tired or too hungry or too worried that they forget to smile on their wedding day.

For complete stories, visit http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/02/08/how-to-make-beautiful-wedding-photos/

Beautiful cards! Can you make something like this for me and how fast can I get it?

I am happy to champion this idea of branding and showcasing our local African delicacies. It looks impossible going by the way our general perceptions of everything African has been. Our foods are mostly regarded as 'local' to imply that it is not delicious, not healthy and does not have the capacity to look beautiful.The later was my biggest challenge while studying Photography in India. I had the habit of visiting fast foods that serves 'bland' tasting meals which I ordered because the pictures of those meals looks beautiful.

I only learnt the lesson that our rich Nigerian foods could get descent photos if only we the photographers can pay attention to project them so. The problem is that most of our photographers are busy with events and modelings that they are not interested in telling such stories. For instance, I find it absurd that a company marketing a major food spice chose to use a music icon and a movie star in their billboard advertisement as against using the photos of our local delicacies. I am of the opinion that the choice was as a result of the photographers inability to tell a good story using our local foods as against the models' popularity. To me it was a twisted story though different opinions could emerge.

Read more at http://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/02/02/branding-african-foods/