Once-upon a great profession, photography seems to be slipping away from lots of the so-called professionals, as they grapple with the invasion of technology, a natural liberalisation of the vocation and a battle to survive. But is the industry really slipping away or are people in the industry too slow to keep up with its rather fast pace? Gboyega Alaka explores the realities.
After months of thumping his chest and insisting on his manliness, Kayode Ayinde (not real name) finally packed his belongings and joined his wife in Ikorodu. Ayinde, a photographer from back in the analogue days of the ’70s had bluntly refused to follow his more illustrious teacher wife, who had managed to complete a section of her landed property in the Lagos suburb and moved over. Like the African man that he is, Ayinde had resolved against superior counsels to go live ‘under’ a woman and therefore stuck to his photography job, even though the so-calle job was gradually disappearing before his very eyes. The fact that he was self-employed notwithstanding.
Within months of his wife’s relocation, he moved out of his one-room apartment in Egbe area of Lagos (which he had occupied with his wife and children) and moved into his dingy studio. Money was coming in trickles, hence he had to cut out whatever expenses he could do without. The studio thus doubled as both place of work, bedroom and all.
More of the time, he found himself lazing around and chatting with idle women around his shop, than doing any serious work. He recalled that customers were now scarce and far between and cash became really scarce. For meals, he fully patronised the numerous ‘mama puts’ around. At other times, he drank ‘garri;’ or simply went hungry. The digital age seemed to have encroached too quickly, leaving him adrift, especially as he knows no other vocation. To stay on course, he got himself a digital camera, but he soon discovered that the challenges went beyond just procuring a cheap digital camera. The traffic to his shop hardly improved, save for trickles of children’s birthdays and perhaps naming ceremonies, for which some of the older generation in his immediate community still remembered him. But these were still far short and the income just wasn’t up to par. People just don’t seem to come out to take photos in studios anymore.
He blamed his fortune (and the now threatened photography profession’s fortune) on the advent of smartphones and other gadgets like iPad, Tablets and co, which virtually everybody now carries around. In the past, anyone who taught he or she looked exceptionally well-dressed branched a photographer’s studio and took a shot or two. That no longer happens, as they now do it themselves and take a peek whenever they feel like. Even at major events such as weddings and birthdays, Ayinde laments that celebrant’s family and friends who have the good fortune of owning an iPad or tablet, literally struggle for space with professional photographers. “The situation is so, so annoying.” He said with so much revulsion.
But how could he or anyone of his generation know that it would ever come to this?
“More worrisome” he said, “is the fact that this whole thing came at a time when we were still battling with the group of emergency photographers otherwise known as ‘paapaapaa’ or ‘quickies’, who had invaded our profession by thronging to events’ venues and providing quick on-the-spot services.
To make matters worse, even the passport photos, which inevitably compels people to still think of photographers from time to time has been hijacked by the so-called business centres. Ayinde laments again: “Unlike before, when one made enough money to feed the family from passport photos alone, hardly would you get two people coming to photo studios to take passport photographs. The ‘two-minute jobbers’ in the name of business centres have cornered that one as well, and this has affected we who are professionals in the industry, such that we’re suffering.”
Ayinde lamented that “They have also bastardised the pricing. While we professionals in the shops charge between N300 and N400 for four copies, some of the emergency business centres charge N200 for eight copies. Some, even less. They are able to do this because most of them have printing machines and passport photo is just one of the numerous services that they provide. Compare that to us, who rely solely on photography and photography alone.”
So now, Ayinde is ‘wasting away’ in his new home somewhere around Agric Bus Stop in Ikorodu. He plans to open a studio in front of the house once he can raise some money. but until then, he is practically jobless.
Baba Shakiru
Baba Shakiru’s story is not so different from Ayinde’s story. Now in his seventies, he has been a photographer all his life. He made some reasonable money during his prime, when photography was still in good stead and managed to purchase a land and build himself a modest rooming house in Maya, Ikorodu. There he also erected a studio, which still stands till date. But that is as far as his success story goes. The studio is now a shadow of its old self, with old-fashioned and faded montage, decor, cameras and props. Till date, he still has in stock the legendary Fulani costumes, which once used to be a rave and people proudly wore to pose in studios.
little wonder all he now does is wake up in the morning, sweep and open the studio, only to sit and wait languidly for never-coming customers. An incognito interview with him reveals that he now merely gets between three and four persons coming in for passport photographs in a week. For the regular 5 by 7 photos, he says he gets like four to five people, who come in on a good Sunday. But even this ‘good fortune’ is not regular. This of course is a far cry from the heavy traffic of people, who thronged photo studios in their Sunday bests in the good old days. He wondered why people think that “taking photos with phones can replace studio photos and that professional torch.”
Now sneering, he said, “To make matters worse, they don’t even develop or print the pictures they take with these phones, let alone frame them; and when the phones go bad, get stolen or lost, the pictures disappear with them.”
No more a job for the unlettered
If Baba Shakiru’s story evokes pity, 67 year-old Eunice Idowu’s case looks pathetic and almost hopeless, as she now feels dumped by the profession she once knew too well. The grandmother who said she learnt photography in her youthful days, well before she got married owns an old studio in Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos. She complained that everything is changing and that she does “not understand what they are using these days.”
Like her counterparts above, she also lamented that patronage is now low. “Nobody comes to the studio anymore. And when I go out to events to take pictures or look for patronage, they turn me down. Some of them ask to see my apprentices and when I say that I am alone, they refuse to patronise me. They tell me that I won’t be able to do the job because I am now old. They prefer the young people who use computers for their work.”
But this is a job she once made a lot of money from. She said, “This is the job I used in sending my children to school, right up to the university and even built a comfortable home from.”
Going down memory lane, she said, “In those days, we weren’t using flash. We snapped photographs, using natural light. When there’s no light, we had other ways of doing it, like using fluorescents or creating light by other means.”
But her love for photography remains. “Photography is very good. When we were snapping, black and white, it was finer than this coloured. Back then, if you don’t learn photography, you cannot know it; but it is very different now, as anybody and everybody can now be a photographer.”
Almost a hopeless situation
For Mat James, who owns and runs Mat James Computers on Alhaji Alani Street off Ikotun Bus Stop, Ikotun, Lagos, photography, as a profession is gradually slipping away. James should know, because aside computers, he sells cameras, memory cards, runs a business centre and owns a photo-printing machine. This reporter was actually attracted to his shop because of the sign that says ‘photo-printing’ on his sliding doors. He sure could shed some light on whether people indeed make efforts to print the photos they take with their phones and other gadgets or if they just store them in their phones and eventually let them waste away.
First, James said he does not sell films, as this reporter initially misconstrued. “I sell Memory Cards; films are analogue and nobody uses them in photography anymore. Now people take shots, take out the memory cards and go and print.”
So then, people come in to print regularly, this reporter shot at him.
But his answer was negative. As a matter of fact, the 5×7 photo-printing machine, which he bought for N300,000 and which prompted the sign outside has turned out to be a loss for him, because people rarely come in for the service. Aside that, he also said, “It’s like a waste of money for me because when I went back to purchase the printing papers, I found that it was no longer available. Apparently, nobody buys anymore, so they stopped producing it. So now the machine is just lying there idle.”
To underline the fact that the world is indeed moving away from conventional photography, James said “Two years ago, I buried my mother; but rather than follow the normal trend, I simply hired a photographer, gave him a memory card, and at the end of the ceremonies, I retrieved my memory card from him, while he went away with his camera. Now the images are in my memory card and in my computer systems and I go there to look at them whenever I feel like or need to show it to people. I only printed and framed a few.
“Even the cameras you see on display on my shelves may be the very last batch, as I’m not planning to replenish the stock. People are just not buying. Some Blackberry phones and androids are delivering better resolutions than most of these cameras, so you really can’t blame people.”
The Busines Centre menace
Unlike in the past, when photographers could be found on every major street, this reporter had a heck of a time locating photographers during his hunt for respondents. His search averaged one photo studio per 10 streets or more. What however obtains in abundance are business centres. On a busy street, you could find up to four business centres, with the message: “2 Minutes Passport” staring you in the face. In some more daring instances, some centres promise “1 Minute, ” knowing fully well that they cannot deliver in less than five minutes.
Their predominance confirms Ayinde’s complain that they have spoiled the business of photography.
Media photographers not left out
Even the media photographers are not left out. Though their income may seem secure, as their salaries are fixed, the reality is that more media houses are making do with less photographers. The Nation’s findings show that most media houses haven’t recruited new photographers in years.
Unlike in the past when a reporter rarely went on assignment without a photographer, reporters now go on alone, armed only with their smartphones. And except the assignment is with a respected personality or a full media event, reporters hardly bother about the presence or absence of photographers.
The implication according to Wale Adio, a freelance media photographer is that they may become surplus to requirement in the media line of production in the next few years.
Light at the end of the tunnel
However, if this reporter’s encounters with Taiwo Peter Popoola of Popson Photography Concepts and Raphael Kunle of Visual Pictures is anything to go by, then the profession may yet be said to be undergoing some rejuvenation rather than dying.
Popoola’s studio located on Prince Adeyemi Street, off Governor’s Road Ikotun, no doubt is a far cry from the drab old studios of the ‘old generation’ photographers. Neat, well-decorated with modern props and equipment, Popoola sure has made efforts to remain relevant in spite of all the challenges bedeviling the industry.
He agrees that the photography profession may well be under threat, especially with the advent and influx of smartphones and other digital gadgets. Even he is not left out of poor patronage, as he says he has to wait until weekend, before making any remarkable sales. During weekdays, he is condemned to waiting hopefully for passport photo jobs, which he says is not as high as it used to be, courtesy the business centres.
Popoola explained that the only reason he has survived in the industry is because he does not depend on studio jobs alone. “I specialise mainly in outdoor events and portraiture. Our big money earners are weddings, birthdays, naming ceremonies and other landmark events.”
He charges as high as N200,000 for wedding, and says what stands him out is his ‘packaging’, which he says is endearing and unique. “Our package for a wedding includes pre-wedding shoots, in which he goes to do photo-shoots with the couple at big hotels, beaches and other such exotic places in days leading to the wedding. We then package these and put in an album, on the website and on slides, which scrolls on the wedding day. ”
He is therefore confident that he would weather the current challenges bedeviling the profession.
Interestingly, Popoola, a graduate of Banking and Finance from the Polytechnic, Ibadan, never had any ‘training ‘ on the job. Both his parents are professional photographers, hence he was born into it and naturally imbibed the skills. He therefore took it as a hubby as far back as his secondary school days.
On why photographers’ studios are now so scarce and the old generation photographers have all but disappeared, he said: “I think it’s because we have now gone digital. Yes, some of them have also bought digital cameras and tried to adapt, but there are some skills that most of them are not able to attain or grapple with, because of their level of education, exposure and age.
“Besides” he says, “There are so many of those tools that we can handle that they cannot grapple with. A lot of them say they can’t withstand the rigours of photo editing, complaining mostly about the impact of the computer on their eyes.”
Kunle Raphael of Visual Pictures, located on Oke-Salu Street in Ikotun, in his own response goes a bit philosophical in his appraisal of the situation.
He said: Every business has its own challenges and our own in the photography profession is obvious. Those who are not professionals have invaded the industry, and with the help of digital cameras, they need not bother about skills bothering on camera setting, which used to be one of the strong advantages of a professional. there is also the coming of the smartphones, which has turned everyone into emergency photographers, and left the industry rather open and at a disadvantage.
To make matters worse, Raphael says the professional photographers’ association is no longer as strong as it used to be. Even the emergency photographers have come together and formed an association, through which they now challenge and fight us (the professional photographers) back.
On how he is managing to survive despite these challenges, he says, “As one era is going, another one is emerging, and everybody is working hard to make sure they keep up and remain relevant. Once you have equipment and are flexible enough to acquire new skills, then you can still find your footing. That is what has kept us in the business.”
Unlike before, he also says people rarely get dressed and come to studios to take photographs anymore.”
“Smartphones have sort of empowered everybody and once they think they look good, all they need is a selfie, or have their friend snap them.
“The good thing however is that some people still recognise that when they need to take serious photos, the professional photographer’s studio is the way to go. They know there’s nothing like that professional touch and that if it’s not a photographer, it can never turn out right. That has kept us on the job.”
Raphael says the location or environment of a photographer’s studio goes a long way in determining the level of patronage or traffic he generates. “You could say that we (Visual Pictures Studio) are well located, being that we are on a main street, and this gives us an edge. On a normal day, we get up to 15 customers, who come in for different things, ranging from casual studio shots, to ceremonial, passport size; and some come for upcoming events or shows.”
Outdoor events remains their major source of income as well and his Visual Studio charges around N50,000 for weddings, including video coverage.
He laments the fact that passport photos, which used to be their staple income generator has been hijacked by the emergency photographers, but insists again that those who identify with that professional touch still seek them out. “You can’t compare!” He insists.
On the gradual extinction of the old generation photographers, Raphael says, “I think that’s because everything has gone digital and it’s not everybody that has the capacity to so migrate and upgrade to that digital level. Also some of the equipment we use today are way beyond the comprehension of some of these old generation photographers. And that’s aside the cost. They have to get a fully programmed computer, modern powerful flash, with all its accessories and a powerful digital camera. Prices of a good digital camera starts from around N150,000, and that’s for the average camera. there are others that go for as much as N500,000 and above, depending on your pocket and level at which you want to operate.”
He insists that the profession will weather the current threat to its existence, saying there will always be those for whom photography is a destiny and they would always find their way into the industry.
Like the plantain plantation, he said the profession will continue to rejuvenate and re-evolve.
The future generation
A testimony to Raphael’s theory of rejuvenation will no doubt be Maryam Azeez, incidentally his apprentice. Maryam, clearly a teenager, dropped out of secondary school (SSII class) following what she calls ‘a mistake’. She got pregnant, dropped out to have the baby and decided she was done with schooling. Now she has signed a pact with the photography profession, hoping to make good living out of it in the future.
But how come she picked photography? We ask. Her simple answer is, “It’s my choice. It’s a job I like.”
She said she opted for photography because she just loves the camera and the way it works.
Good enough, she has had a fair share of secondary school education and one can only wish that that puts her in good stead in the profession, make her flexible and amenable to change, and not end up like Mrs. Idowu and several other old generation enthusiast, by the road-side, panting.
