How to take photographs and stay alive in Nigeria

In ‘normal' times, the title of this article should read, ‘How to take photographs and survive in Nigeria'; which in essence would be a manual on how to take photographs and earn a good living. Sadly, things have changed so dramatically; there is now a very foul mood of anger and distrust in the land and the average abused and aggravated Nigerian on the street is by nature incensed that you and your camera are deliberately invading his privacy to mock him.

The spectrum of reaction from the average Nigerian on the street; has gone from the welcoming smile and cooperation of "take my photo" in the fifties and early sixties to the economic insistence of paying people to have their photographs taken in the seventies and eighties and, the present dangerous situation where people who are photographed on the street; in most parts of Nigeria, believe that of right they should seize, destroy the camera and in addition maim and even kill the "daring and stupid" photographer!

Interestingly, this aversion and aggression towards street photography is the result of the visibility of the photographer and camera. We are well into the Orwellian age of ‘big brother watching you', but because people do not see and are not in relatively close contact to the maze of ‘hidden' surveillance street cameras daily monitoring them all across major cities today; they cannot take out their rage on them. It is when the ‘intruder' is an obvious target; a roving street cameraman; that people tend to react quite violently about what they consider is a flagrant invasion of their privacy! But then, there is public domain; and how do the public and photographers deal with this reality and right?

Britain and America

There has been uproar in New York City and particularly in London by professional street photographers who object to official efforts to curb their freedom to capture various aspects of daily street life in these busy and tourist-attracting cities. Many very creative photographic books on street life and activities have been published in America and Britain by photographers who have been engaged in this genre for decades. They show an artistry that has an element of voyeurism; an ability to be unobtrusive while capturing unawares people and moments in their ‘natural' form.

Public notices by the Metropolitan Police have been displayed in London inviting the public to report suspicious-looking street photographers. For a city that prides itself as the tourist capital of the world and boasts of a long tradition of professional street photographers, this virtual death sentence on street photography is ‘unacceptable' to both tourists and photographers; who have ignored this intrusion on their freedom to take pictures on the street. The rationale for this order; the Police claim, is security and anti-terrorist based. Apparently, the Police have evidence that terrorists take street photographs which are then used to plan and prepare for strategic terrorist attacks on London.

Guns and cameras are alike in that if you have them you invariably shoot them! When, and how to shoot them, without causing deadly damage, is a combination of experience and wisdom. That is why both of these ‘weapons' are not safe in inexperienced hands and, conversely, that is why in a very tight situation marksmen and master photographers can take just one effective shot, achieve the result and disappear/melt away. Firearms and cameras are most ‘dangerous' when handled by amateurs; more so when these amateurs become too daring. As a professional you are always aware of the ground rules because they provide the safety net for survival.

The military years

During military dictatorship security officials were very paranoid about cameras on the streets. I remember being hauled to Lion Building Police Headquarters in Lagos in the mid-seventies for taking photographs on the street as well as being bearded. Apparently, I was a spy and had to be apprehended. My fury earned me a mild warning not to photograph ‘security locations.' Of course it was just a question of saving face as both the ‘oga' and I knew that the policeman who arrested me had made a blunder.

Two decades on; my friend Mohammed had a different and weird experience. He had parked his car across from the Cathedral on the Marina and was engrossed in taking photographs of a beautiful sunset with his very expensive and effective Hasselblad medium-format camera. To his utter shock his camera was snatched from his hands. He turned and saw a soldier in uniform race towards a parked military vehicle that sped off.

Mohammed gave chase and eventually caught up with the military vehicle as it was about to enter the compound of a senior officer in Ikoyi. An outburst of fluent Hausa from Mohammed and mention of names of very senior military officers he knew immediately turned the table against the rogue ‘security man'-soldier. Mohammed got his camera; which cost more than a year's salary of the soldier, back with an apology while the soldier was promptly taken to the guard room, severely ‘dealt with' and eventually dishonourably discharged!

Watch out

Another friend Lanre, narrowly escaped being struck in the eye with a screw-driver in late 2009 when he was caught taking photographs from his car; of a fight at a petrol station where he waiting to buy fuel. The intervention of the manager and the public act of deleting the photographs he had taken ‘rescued' him; with a stern reprimand!

For well over a decade, I have been a judge on the panel for Action Photography in the Diamond Award for Media Excellence. In recent years judges in other categories have bemoaned the lack of ‘very dramatic' photographs among the entries. I sympathise with these other judges but more importantly I fully understand the plight of press photographers in today's Nigeria.

It is now very dangerous to take photographs on the mean streets of Nigerian cities and big towns and, in rural areas as well. So, wise professional and press photographers prefer to be live dogs than dead lions! Nigerians are now also very hip to cell phone-cameras. You might be tempted to grab a sneak street shot with your cell phone-camera. But Beware!