After spending over two decades on television directing award-winning programmes and documentary, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi has returned to his first love: photography.
Born in Zaria (Kaduna State), Abdullahi is a graduate of English Literature from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Lagos and was broadcast journalist with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) until his retirement in 2006.
Of course, the images that catch his fancy are not ‘cast only in gold’ but they include everyday life stories from the streets of Bauchi to Bamako; Lagos to Lokoja’, as he explained in an interview with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN. Excerpts…
HAS photography been there with you this while or you suddenly discovered it was your calling after you left NTA?
I think I have always had the passion for photography since my younger years. I remember as s a young kid, when our parents went to Mecca and came back with what looked like a pinhole camera and when you clicked, you see different images from Saudi Arabia; that really caught my imagination and attention. I started as an announcer and presenter when I joined NTA but I graduated into production and directing; and I have always marvelled at the magic of the camera. So when I left the NTA, I told myself ‘what stops me from handling the camera myself?’ and the whole thing changed when I went on a trip to London when I saw London School of Photography. I pondered over the fact that people actually study photography. Eventually, I went to the London School of Photography for a course but ended up at the London Academy of Media & Television where I did a Diploma in Photography. That was the transition and I believe I took the right decision.
So that was how television lost you to photography….
Actually, I didn’t go straight into photography after I left NTA in 2006; I went to the National Film and Video Censors’ Board as their head of their corporate affairs department. At the Censor’s Board, we did a lot of travels and we were dealing directly with those in the film industry and Nollywood; I felt it was necessary I document all what we did. I would agree that the movement from NTA to NFVCB really developed my interest in photography but the passion had always been there with me.
What is your area of specialisation and what actually determines the kind of photographs that you take?
I had long realised that we have very few photo journalists in Nigeria in the mould of people like Sunny Smart-Cole and the late Peter Obe; and what we have basically are just photographers who shoot at weddings and other events. And most of the pictures these ones take are actually bland. When you look at our newspapers, you don’t see photographs that tell stories and what you see are just three people sitting together and they just click. Anybody can do that but I think we have to take the frontier of photography beyond that level; to snap images that can tell stories. Portraiture is the father of photography but I have moved away from that to documentary which is something new, vibrant and it requires a lot of creativity because you don’t do a script on the type of images you want to snap. But once you see an image, your thought is geared toward the story such can make before you go for it. You must have in your mind a visual interpretation of what you want and that is the gospel I’ve spreading when I go to seminars or lecture school kids on photography. There are no good or bad photographs but there are better photographs.
I guess you are always with your camera and how important is a good camera in getting better photos?
I’m always with my camera and always programmed ready to shoot. Really, my camera is my first wife and it is always with me because you can’t predict what you are going to see on the road. In fact, my wife no long enjoys travelling with me because of my new interest in photography. For instance, a journey between Kaduna and Abuja should ordinarily not be more than two hours but it can take me more than four hours because I could stop repeatedly along the way all because of photography. This is no longer funny for her because it could be very crazy; but without the passion, you can’t just go into documentary or photo journalism.
What will be the motivation for those without the kind of background that you have to go into documentary photography?
Photography or better put, photo journalism is all about passion. It usually starts as a passion and ends up in business or it could be vice versa as a business and ends into passion. You must have passion and you can’t go into photography because you want quick money. For any one going into this must be well trained and if he does that, he would appreciate it all the more so. You must be trained to last long in photo journalism and this is applicable to anything that involves creativity; and that is why you have the likes of Tunde Kelani, Kunle Afolayan still waxing strong in the Nollywood, whereas so many people who started even before them had long gone away. Photography is an expensive hobby because for you to have a good camera like a 5D with very good lenses can cost you up to a million naira; and I don’t think we have so many young photographers that have such finances. But photography is not only about expensive cameras but it’s in your heart because if you have the passion and drive, you can still take better images with small cameras.
I’ve seen some of your lovely images on social platforms, which image would you consider as your best yet?
That is a tough one; and so many people have asked for my best photographs but all my pictures are great and it is going to be difficult for me to single any one out because the circumstances I took my pictures are not the same. I have different emotions attached to my pictures and it would therefore be difficult to pick one as the best. Generally, people tell me my photos are good and there are some that I’m greatly attached with. For instance, the picture of the man I took on bicycle in Kura somewhere in Kano which was used by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and I also felt that was a great image. I have actually seen the man on the bicycle with his rubber wares but I lost the opportunity of snapping him on two previous occasions and had to wait two kilometres ahead the third time and I shot about 400 images; that was one of my best images because of the circumstances and I really put my mind to it. I saw him doing his job consistently and I felt he must be passionate to be doing his job; I have few others.
I’ve seen some of the photographs you took from the Durbar in Zaria and they were not that of the Emir, what informed the choice of images you take?
I have been shooting the Durbar consistently for the past five years because I’m actually working on a book about the Durbar. The Durbar is a big event in Katsina, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Zaria and I have loads and loads of pictures from the Durbar. Every year, I have a visual image of what I want to take out of the Durbar which is usually from different perspectives. It can be portrait or long range pictures of people from the Durbar; I want to shoot stories not only of the Durbar but from and within the Durbar. I don’t waste my time shooting the Emir because I can always get the Emir anytime but I can’t recreate the Durbar. I can ask the Emir or his sons to pose for the camera but I can’t recreate the people who came from all parts of the country to see the Durbar. I can’t reset the people who came all the way from Europe to watch the Durbar; so I don’t put more attention on the Emir because I know I can always get him anytime I want to do his photo shoot. You visualise the kind of photos you want to take because there is so much frenzy during the Durbar with people wearing different colours and from different parts of the world. The Durbar is not stage-managed; it’s spontaneous and that is what you want in a festival. You have to think and look beyond what everybody is seeing to get good images beyond the Emir which everybody wants to see. There are even people around the Durbar and they are not interested in the Durbar; those are the type of photographs that captures the imaginations and I have loads of these which I don’t put on social platforms. Of course, I store my photographs in more than three other devices because the camera or laptop can be damaged and that’s why I have other backup which is a better insurance to preserve my exclusives.
How much of dangers do you face going on street photography?
I do a lot of travels across Africa and Europe; and the best place to get photos is Africa. When you are looking for colour, spontaneity or vibrancy, you get them in Africa and not in Europe. The photography in Europe is tending towards art but pictures from Africa are original. In any village across Africa, people see and smile for the camera but the same cannot be said in America. The images from Africa are so vibrant; and the colours. When I was doing my training in the UK, the instructors will take you to China Town because of colours; colours are what make photography vibrant. Africa is great in terms of everything; the good, the bad, the ugly is here and photography captures all of that. Of course, there are occasions I have run into people who wanted to snatch my camera and I had such experience in Kano and Abuja. It’s a risky business and you therefore need to be polite, smile a lot and hold some coins. Of course, people are not always happy all the time and as a photo journalist or somebody doing documentary or street photography, you have to know the right camera to use so that you don’t offend people’s sensibility.
