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The Adebayomi as he is fondly called is a street and fashion photographer based in Kwara state, he is also a final year student of Landmark University and he is most notable for creating his images in Black and white, in this interview with Femi Akeusola he explains the reason why he shoots in black and white, the problem facing photographers in Nigeria among other interesting topics
Q: Who is Mr. The Adebayomi?
The Adebayomi:
The Adebayomi is the Instagram name of a photographer that shoots Fashion and street. My real name is Adebayo Abayomi. I live in Ilorin, Kwara state Nigeria.
Q:How was growing up like?
The Adebayomi:
Growing up to me was pretty fun, let me explain. I grew in an highly competitive family, Its a family of 5, My dad and Mum and my 2 siblings. We are all boys. My extended family, that is, my paternal and maternal sides have this sort of competition going on among them too. Healthy one though. you can imagine a family with so many professionals like Medical doctors, engineers. You know, so when i was young i really wanted to be a medical doctor. I’ve always been fascinated by people wearing lab coats, you know their gestures, mannerisms. I liked how they attended to patients but growing up, everything changed, on the other hand my dad was a very strict man, he wouldn’t allow us go out so I grew up seeing myself as a boring person, someone that would spend most of his days thinking. I didn’t know how to relate with people but all thanks to photography, all that is changed now (Chuckles). Yeah so that’s my background. I grew up in an humble christian home and we attend living faith church. I attended a Living faith primary school, attended a Baptist secondary school and I’m presently in living faith University.
Q: Tell us about your Educational background
The Adebayomi:
I spoke about my educational background a bit while answering the previous question, but to be more precise, My primary school was Kingdom heritage Model school (Used to be kingdom heritage model school). My secondary school was Baptist high school and right now I’m presently studying Industrial Chemistry in Landmark University, I’m in my final year and it has just been God all the way. I like to call myself the Photo Chemist. I’m in Love with Photographer and my love for photography has made me love Chemistry (chuckles). I never really liked Chemistry but the love for photography was passed on to chemistry. Even my lecturers in school and my colleagues just know I’m in love with photography that’s why I call myself a photo chemist
Q: How did you fall in love with photography
The Adebayomi:
It all started as an hobby. I fell in love with it before realizing it. I grew up with a Point and shoot camera which was given to me by my parents and i used it through out my secondary school days which made me have a sort of class. I used it to document most of my final year moments back then in secondary school. It was important to us because we had a couple of activity, I had to sneak it out of the house cause the camera was quite expensive and my parents wouldn’t want me to take the camera to school and i was using it to document every body’s lifestyle. Then i continued, I was shooting everyday, was shooting teachers in classes, prefects in the dining and all… I was just shooting. Then there was a time in school during our 100 level break, the chancellor came to school and told us, we’ve attended a school where we pay alot, we should go home and find something to do, then on getting home, I informed my mom that I would love to learn a skill, she asked what I would love to learn and I mentioned photography, being a career counselor, she didn’t have any problems with that at all but my dad being a business and career person, he was against the idea, he was like ‘No, I can’t see my son doing photography, if its cash you need, tell me’ but it was my mom that enrolled me in a photography school and i even got a digital camera before enrolling and i noticed that i had it in me so the learning process was quite easy. I was learning how to shoot but it was in a commercial environment, until I met a boss, ‘Mr. Deoye Babatunde’ a former assistant at Hakeem Salam studio, and he convinced me to training under him as he was not happy with what i was shooting. Which changed my perception of images, I saw it as an art, a way to inspire and a means of communication. The time i spent with him was what changed my photography game. I fell in love with photography because asides medicine, that I’ve always loved the only thing that appealed to me again was photography
Q: When did you decide to take it from being an hobby to a profession?
The Adebayomi:
Hmmm When I dedided to take it from being an hobby to a profession it all started in 2014 when I met Adeoye Babatunde but officially, I was bold enough, ready enough, strong eough and ready enough to have my own style of photography in September, 2016 irrespective of what people say or how they felt about my works. which was when i started shooting in black white strictly, not many are doing that. That’s when I coined the term Crazytivity to describe my works i.e its how crazy you are that will bring out the creativity in you.
Q: What type of photography do you do?
The Adebayomi:
The type of Photography I do is Fashion and street. I barely do events and on rare occasions when event jobs come in, I sometimes get someone to shoot it. I’m building myself as much as I can on Fashion and street photography. I document people’s lifestyle. Telling the untold stories and that was what prompted my shooting street thereby creating a feel whenever my audience see my pictures. I tell the stories with the images raw and even though sometimes I accompany my images with write ups, I try as much as possible to make the images self explanatory. There’s always a connection my subject and I. I understand that to be able to make rules, you might need to break rules, sometimes I break rules to be able to tell the complete story, the story might not conform with what is trending in town but I have to tell it. shooting street has taught me a lot. Now I have more compassion due to the compelling stories of my subjects. I’ve had to shoot a mad person and in that moment, I had to bring myself to the mad man’s level. I try to bring myself on the same level with my subjects. Its never boring on the street because there are so many characters on the street and the street is always ready to pose for a photograph. Being a street photographer has influenced my fashion images because whenever I’m shooting fashion, I find myself documenting and I still shoot it in Black and white because it translates better the emotions behind each pictures without distractions. The images are easily relate-able that way.
Q: Why that type of photography?
The Adebayomi:
The major reason behind the type of photography i do is I’ve always wanted to document everybody around me. I’ve always wanted to see things happen before my lens… I’ve always wanted to tell people’s story, I’m not just shooting because I want to make money, I want to use my images to inspire people and give them a voice, And reason why I shoot Fashion the way I do is to portray the person I’m shooting in either a glamorous way or royalty way and telling the story behind that person’s personality. The reasin why I do what I do really is just to tell people’s story and I’d love to add wedding to what I do soon, as I’m currently working on my portrait skills.
Q: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
The Adebayomi:
I draw my inspiration from my day to day activities, my personal life, other people’s life, movies I watch basically from my day to day activities, what I can see, feel, and my subjects story. I don’t just take pictures. I also check Instagram but my inspirations are mainly from things around.
Q: Any photographer you look up to?
The Adebayomi:
Richard Avadon of blessed memory a fashion Lord I call him. Studying his archives of works made me know how to tell story with fashion photography
And studying him made me understand how to bring out the raw emotion I need from my subject and creating an intimate connection.
Also, GMB Akash, he Spends days on street telling people’s story as raw as possible and bringing them to timeline. The two give back projects I’ve by privilege done were through the inspiration I got from this man.
Studying him made me understand it’s not all about shoot street it’s also about giving to them what they need
I successfully fed 100 children on the streets last children’s day and another givee back project at mobolorunduro community last year too with help of friends and family we successfully brought back interest to education back to that community
Lee Jeffries also is a great photographer I look up to, I learnt how to take really intimate portraits from him, portraits that speak at first sight and his work improves my black and white game everyday
Those are the three photographers I lookup to, but only Richard Avadon is of blessed memory
Q: So far what has been your highest point as a photographer?
The Adebayomi:
My highest point in photography by God’s grace was being able to write a photography e-book titled the world with different stories, I gathered a few writers to write about different images. It was so great for me as it triggered creativity in other epeople too, I had writers who told me they were about giving up on writing prior to that book. another high point was whn Bayo Omoboriowo sent me a message on instagram requesting for my phone number and he called me telling me I had the eyes and he also cited a few things I could improve on. It was so special to me because it dawned on me that someone waas watching. Another thing that gives me joy is the amount of people that tell me they are inspired by what I do on Instagram. I’m a product of God’s grace and I give him all the glory
Q: What challenges do you think photographers in Nigeria face
The Adebayomi:
I would love to rephrase that question as I would be too small to talk about the challenges photographers face rather I’ll say what challenges do young photographers face? First is we are scared to start something different, we always tend to copy what has been done before and something about copy cats is you can never be the best copycat in the world. we ought to strive to be different as this is what made the great ones great. My favorite mantra is “The crazitivity in you will bring about the Creativity in your work” I hope I blow to the level that people start ascribing the quote to my name.
Q: Thank you so much. Any last words?
The Adebayomi:
Thank you so much Femi and the whole businessofphotography.net team, My last words are Believe in God, believe in yourself and believe in your art. Always try to make God number 1 irrespective of your believe and religion. I’ve faced a lot of criticisms in the past and even till now but that doesn’t stop me from believing in me still. also to every young photographer, create a style and stick to it because it is product of your creativity and sooner or later the style will be celebrated. Also never joke with God, no matter the project, I always put it in God’s hands. I’ve never had a negative minded person, I always believed in possibilities. again your ability to work hard and work smart bring out the uniqueness in you. While everyone thinks Nigeria is a problem, see it as a project and be a solution provider. I pray God helps us all
