This past weekend, I joined a friend who is a photographer for a photo walk (a term which basically means ‘snapping pictures while walking on the street’ – It’s a thing amongst documentary photographers, I suppose). The aim was to capture candid images of everyday people, often in their element, but as simple as it seemed, it was daunting (yet, exciting).
I can tell you for a fact, the resting face of almost everyone we encountered wasn’t a pleasant or inviting one. We could tell that they had been pummelled by manmade and natural forces. Perhaps, if we had asked, they would have iterated how bad the economy is. We didn’t ask.
Choosing to ignore their hard exteriors and muster a “hello” was the bravest thing I’d done all year (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but it was indeed fear-worthy), yet, I’m glad I did.
I learned three things: the everyday Nigerian wants to be seen, heard and appreciated.
We get so used to our daily grind that we often forget the things that really matter – communication. Once they knew what we wanted to do, their faces lit up. It was like a breath of fresh air interjecting their already strained day.
One particular woman stood out for me. In the scorching heat, she held tightly to her son to prevent the little carefree boy from running loose on the busy road while attempting to balance an old sewing machine on her head and backing a baby that was barely a year old. She was struggling and it didn’t seem fair that we added our ‘wahala’ to her stress-laden day. But I noticed her staring at us while we were wooing others, so I walked up to her and something beautiful happened: she broke into a genuine smile and in that moment, her stress was no longer a factor. She was seen and she felt worthy enough to be photographed.