00:00 This is everyday Africa.
00:02 The streets of Lagos seen through the lens of Bernard Kalu.
00:06 So my daily walk around, this is one of the places I stop at because he's my friend out far.
00:12 So it's always very engaging when you come in the morning.
00:14 There are different commentaries, how passionately they are engaging the situation of the country.
00:18 So it's one of my very favorite spots in the city of Ojota.
00:22 The reason why I love taking pictures in this neighborhood is first, it's where I live you get.
00:27 So basically why I take these pictures are a way to recreate the nostalgia of my past.
00:33 Street photography is taking pictures anywhere life happens.
00:36 So as long as there's movement, there's life, you're qualified to be my friend.
00:41 The very first thing I enjoy or I look forward to in going photographing the street is to re-tap into that experience.
00:52 I think it's magic to experience the everyday life of everyday people.
00:56 Because I know as time proceeds, these pictures will be the only way we can be transported back into this time.
01:03 Bernard Kalu, part of a new young breed of Nigerian photographers, is a creative artist who tells his story through the click of his camera.
01:12 His emotive images are captured in and around the city, documenting events, people and the environment highlighting social issues in Africa.
01:20 My photography career started just after I finished university.
01:26 I got gifted a camera one time before I finished my uni, so I was just shooting everything with it.
01:31 I just had a knowledge to pick up my camera one of the days and photograph, just walk on the street.
01:37 It was something I just did in a bit to power off or power down the noises in my head and just get myself busy.
01:46 And that was how I became a culture. Every other day I would just walk my street, talk to people, take pictures.
01:51 There's just a thin line between street photography and documentary photography.
01:55 But the truth is this, all forms of photography at the end of the day are all documentary photography.
02:01 Because whether you're doing portraits or you're doing fashion or you're doing whatever form of photography you're doing, they become documents to show the past.
02:09 Creating awareness on the everyday beauty seen on the streets and the importance on social street photography is what Bernard hopes to achieve with his work.
02:19 His passion for humans and stories told through his lens is awe-inspiring.
02:24 Odjota is a community in the Lagos state local government area of Koshofe, which is located along the Lagos-Ibador Expressway.
02:32 It is home to a population of about 600,000 people.
02:36 The Odjota bus stop is renowned to be a significant Lagos terminus, making it a busy hub of transportation in the city.
02:43 The way he approached me, he gave me that sense of belonging that everybody is important, everybody is welcome, nobody is less.
02:51 All the time people will object, "Why are you trying to take my photo?"
02:54 Usually when they object, I don't try to force it because the goal is not to take that person's picture, the goal is to photograph the street.
03:04 So another thing I'm very passionate about is environmental and social issues.
03:08 In my portfolio you find that I do, one of the works I have around social issues is my work on colorism.
03:15 We're trying to question the biases we have in this part of the world where people tend to elevate anything white.
03:24 Then also for environment, there's a project I've been doing since 2018 on the suit issue in Port Harcourt.
03:31 Because we have people illegally refining crude and they're doing it very close to where people live.
03:39 You see black particles everywhere, so you have a lot of suits escaping into the air.
03:45 So I'm always looking out for projects around these themes, around environmental issues.
03:51 I'm always more concerned about what I'm thinking or what my motive or my biases are
03:56 before I'm concerned about composition or light or anything.
04:01 It's something that keeps me focused, it's something that keeps me grounded in the sense that I'm not distracted or I don't lose the essence of what this photograph is all about.
04:12 It's one thing to go into the studios to take pictures, to look for beautiful pictures to take,
04:16 but there are people on the streets that deserve recognition, that deserve to be captured, to be saved for tomorrow.
04:22 So it's more like an ode to the everyday Nigerian.
04:25 Nothing defines a place like its people.
04:27 For instance, when you say Lagos, before you think about the Danforth bosses and the Lekki Koi Bridge, they are people of Lagos.
04:36 So my photograph is my last line of defense to prove that this is where I'm from.
04:42 Bernard is not just playing an important role in documenting life in Lagos, but also contributing to the preservation of our history.
04:50 He's here to bring about change and let the emotions evoked by his lens encourage impact and action.
04:57 (upbeat music)
Comments