,,,has over 4million images on Nigeria
A British trained Nigerian photographer and cultural anthropologist, Mr. Dayo Adedayo has said Borno State is the most beautiful state when compared to Rivers, Ogun and Lagos states
He made this revelation in an interview on Plus TV Channel 408 on Monday May 25.
Adedayo who trained initially as Agricultural extension worker said also that he already has over 4 million images on Nigeria.
All water-marked images on the Nigerian e-passport are his handiwork and among several other works.
Photography is my passion
He said in the interview that he has been into photography since he was 18.
“I love to be behind the camera. It boils down to being a shy person.” he stated.
On his present pre-occupation, he says, “I am into documenting Nigeria. I have taken it as a personal project. I have over 4 million images on Nigeria and I am going back to the states again to have comprehensive images.
“As at today I have four books on Rivers, Ogun, Borno and Lagos States. There is nothing you mention on these states that I don’t have; landmarks, historical monuments have been captured”
The most beautiful of the four states according to him is Borno explaining that “The appellation of the state is the home of peace. Before Boko Haram if I was not living in Lagos or Abuja I would live in Maiduguri.
“Borno State is just too beautiful. Probably because I grew up in the south. Going to Borno State was just something else. It is a beautiful state.
“As far as I could, I see pure sand, desert and beautiful landscape. Life is beautiful there and the people are receptive. You don’t have the religious fundamentalism you have in other parts of the North in Borno
“Borno State is occupied by the Kanuris. Their cultural orientation is different from other states. If you are in Borno State you’re more likely to be an international trader because it is bounded by Chad, Niger and Cameroun”
He described photography in Nigeria as still evolving noting that he and his colleagues “are the John the Baptists, the forerunners of the profession.”
He adds, “the generation before us did not have a good foundation with the exception of people like Uncle Sunmi Smart-cole, Peter Obi and Cornelius Oyemade who is a living legend. He is over 80 now.”
Photography in the words of Adedayo, “is like medicine” because of the many aspects of the field. He believes the future is bright for the profession.
Digitization
While noting that digitization is killing the profession, he said, “In terms of creativity we are not getting better photographers today because mobile phones will take pictures and drop your jaws.
“A lot of companies are doing things themselves in terms of advertisement. Digitization helps in post-production but in terms of the quality of pictures, manual cameras give better quality. Many photographers are going back to films in Europe.”
Adedayo an external examiner at the Auchi Polytecnic, who has traveled to all the local government areas in Nigeria disclosed in the short conversation that he is also taking pictures to illustrate proverbs in Yoruba and also working on documentation on Nigeria that will weigh 50kg. “Every local government in Nigeria will be featured in it.” He said.
My secret
On what keeps him going he says, “I have been blessed all my life. I have a supportive wife. I am useless once you take me out of photography. God has been kind to me. I may go away for one or two months and come back home to rest.
“All my books have been sold out and as a rule I don’t reprint because it is a work of art. And you will be lucky to have a part of me. I do the designing myself. I handled them personally.”
On post covid-19, he says, “I started work on a documentary because we had similar experience between 1918 and 1920 where we only had text no images except for a few places like Spain where we had pictures of a big hospital.
” I have taken some images of Lagos that may never happen in another 100 years. That you see Lagos as empty as it was. I hope to go back to the same spot and just document that so that in another 100 years when we have long gone people can refer to when we had corona virus in year 2020.
“For me I am just trying to document our civilization. I am taking pictures today. Tomorrow they are no longer pictures but documents that can be used in a court of law. They become history. And you cannot rewrite it.”