Before now, I’ve had this misconception of the man, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, this opinion was formed by my perception of a man as big, as talented and as intelligent as he is. This is also because I’ve interacted with a few celebrities some are not even as talented in their arts as Uncle Kelechi but they end up “Falling Hand” with their annoying and pompous characters. I stopped feeling some personalities after interacting with them, so I had the opinion about people that are so popular.
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When I learnt from Mr. Kola that we were going to be having a meeting with Uncle Kelechi, trust me in my head, I planned that it was going to be business as usual. I was already on my Queen’s English mode, then we got to his studio, he had just wrapped up a shoot and immediately gave us friendly handshakes, the one that would end in back pats. I was surprised as I was expecting that type that we would would hold each others elbows with our left hands. You know the Kingsman handshake yeah?
We kicked off with him showing us images from his just concluded shoot, to showing images from previous shoots. I got to see exclusive never-been-seen images shot by this maestro and I was marveled at the mastery of photography and lighting. Soon it was discussion time and he was almost giving out all his secret shooting techniques. When asked asked why he was dishing out such amount of knowledge, he explained that if he doesn’t share what he knows, he won’t be prompted or gingered to learn new creative approaches. He also hinted about a new YouTube series he will be starting soon (You heard it here first). We’ll keep you updated.
He was so free that we were going from topic to topic that we lost track of time. We talked about doing business in Nigeria, Photography talks, Business of Photography, Politics, state of the nation among other topics and i felt ashamed of my initial perception of him, He said he doesn’t know how he became so big that people began to demystify him. He explained further that the YouTube experience would avail people exclusive into his life and people would understand that he’s as normal and free as every other person as he will be bringing himself in 100% so people will understand him and how he works.
After we finished talking, we decided to chill, listen to music and he was patient enough to learn a few dance moves from me, I taught him Shaku Shaku and the Gwarra Gwarra dance moves, I felt so proud. I was feeling like I have made it in life. We also took a selfie before we all left for our various destinations.
-Femi Akeusola
