Yetunde Ayeni-Babaeko studied photography with a major in advertising at the prestigious Studio BE in Greven, Germany. She later enrolled at the Macro Media, a school for Art and Design in Germany in 2004, and returned finally to Nigeria in 2005 to pursue a career in photography. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, she speaks on the pros and cons of starting a photography studio.
What inspired you at the beginning?
I saw a gap when I came here and the demand for us back in 2004 was there. There were a lot of advertising agencies, already doing some great stuff but they didn’t have good advertising photographers. I just jumped in and started working from home. First, I interned at Ess-Ay Studios. It was an organisation owned by the Adegunwas. So, they took me in for that six months period. And from there, I went from one ad agency to another. I met a lot of potential clients for those six months. That was how I decided that I was going to stay in Nigeria, I now started by working from home as a freelance photographer.
Not having a studio meant that I went to people’s houses, did more of family shoots. I also covered events and once in a while if there was something in particular, I would have to transform a living room into a studio. Then I realised that I can’t continue like this. Two years later, I put money together to rent a studio. Then the idea was also to start a studio not with my name. I wanted it to be a neutral place, I wanted it to be a place where a number of photographers can come together and work. I didn’t want people to expect me always to be there because I’m a mum and I can’t do everything by myself. I’m a really good team player. So, that was it and hopefully there would be some branches later.
So, I started and put most of my energy into establishing that. So, I now realised that commercial work has some restrictions. I also wanted to establish myself as an artist and I started doing more artistic work that fulfills me as an artist. That gave birth to Yetunde Ayeni Babaeko photography, which had a different focus from Camara studios. With that I have been able to do some exhibitions; I work together with some organisations, charities, NGOs. I still supervise my photographers; it is not as if I’m entirely out of that.
What do you need to set up this kind of business?
What I always tell people who want to go into photography is that you need to do a self-reflection about who you are and what you love to do. That would now determine what you want to do. If you say, you want to be a documentary photographer, then you just need a camera and that is it. Maybe some computers and software for that. As a documentary photographer, you are always on the road. But, if you want to be an advertising photographer, you will need a studio. And if you want to be an event photographer, you will need a camera, some software and some extra hands for those big events. Next, if you want to be an artistic photographer or if you want to be just a family photographer, you will need lights, a camera, you need to be mobile, you need a car. So, first of all, you need to finalise the kind of photographer that you want to be.
Tell us about your experience working with female photographers?
As a woman in photography and knowing the struggles women go through, I always like to work with women. In the past, I have organised training and workshops for them and we got some backlash. The men felt discriminated against. I felt that as women, they speak a different language. The men are more technical while women focus more on emotions. So, a lot of times, women are overruled by men, who are technical while the women want to do something else. It was beautiful organising these workshops and working with them. Also, I have a lot of women, doing their internship here.
What are some of the things that you have done with children?
Yes, people keep asking for training for children and I say send them over. But there is a problem with; it’s difficult because after school, they are supposed to do their homework. Also, you need to drive them around because they can’t come here alone and all that. It is just the infrastructure that makes it a bit difficult for children.
What inspired you?
I was inspired by things people in Nigeria took for granted. For me, it was strange and I put this into my photography. The exhibition was called ITAN (story). It focused on Nigeria, especially Lagos where I am based and provided the images. There are a lot of creative things happening around us. It has been very inspiring and I have no regrets. The motivation that was going on in Nigeria is amazing. I don’t think that I would have gotten that in Germany. I saw things from a fresh eye, they were things that were unusual to foreigners, like chickens flying around or someone frying yams by the roadside. Things that were normal for you, for me was totally strange. I was busy taking pictures on the streets and it helps especially the culture thing.
What is the reaction when you take your works outside Nigeria?
It is so amazing, they love it. Foreigners are actually the ones who buy most of the works. For a lot of curators here, most of the buyers are still expatriates. Of course, there are some Nigerian too.
What advice would you give photographers who want to exhibit abroad?
It is a new era now. Now, the trend is that we are proudly Africa. I also want to say that people over there are encouraging us to do that now. For instance, they listen to us speaking English to our children and just wonder why we are doing that. We should be speaking our native language. So, I encourage everyone to jump on that bandwagon because other countries are pushing themselves first. We have to learn how to push ourselves first as well.
What projects are you working on at the moment?
There is another exhibition that I am doing with a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) scheduled for between June and July. I am excited about that. Camara studio would also be going into videography making music videos. As a photographer that is the next thing. It is something that we really want to do. We are visual communicators. So, the next natural thing would be to go into videography. This includes music, documentary, advertising and other video clips.
What makes your studio different from others?
First of all, our creativity makes us different and the fact that we are very photography focused. For instance, when clients come and ask us, when we do a shoot, how many clicks do they get. I am always taken aback by this question because I don’t count my exposures. We work until we are satisfied with clients. Until we have satisfied ourselves. Of course, there are rates; there are packages depending on what you want. But honestly, we are really client and service focused. For us, art comes first before anything else. That is where I come in with my photography. I am always an artist and you can always know that whatever portrait you get here, even if it is a commercial portrait, they will always be somehow artistic.
Tell us about some memorable moments on the job?
There are so many. Every shoot is memorable. They are the ones that I get travel. There are a lot of people who make me come out, travel to other cities and they pay for it. It is stressful, to travel in Nigeria especially with the equipment. But it is also fun; it keeps you on your toes. I love it. I have travelled to places like Umuahia, Bayelsa and Sokoto. Sokoto was amazing; we went for the Fishing festival in Arugungun. On a particular trip, we had to go to different cities and cover some events. That was amazing as well.
Let’s compare when you started and now. What has changed?
What brought me to the surface was working for magazines. That helped me a lot especially when I just came to Nigeria. I didn’t have a studio and I was working from the house. There was this magazine called True Love and I did work for them before, when I was with Es- ay Studios. When I now fully came back to Nigeria, they remembered me and they featured me and I did work for them. Then there were other magazines as well, those magazines really helped me at that time especially because there were no social media at that time. They gave me the exposure, unfortunately a lot of these magazines are no more. They are online magazines now. I miss all the creative fashion shoots that we used to do at that time.
Leave a Reply