For the debut episode of N.P.H. LIVE: Photography Conversation we spoke with documentary photographer and storyteller: Mayor Otu!
For the people that may not know you, please introduce yourself:
My name is Mayo Otu. I’m a storyteller that uses photography as a medium of telling stories. For now, I’m using photography. In the future it might change to film, you never know. I call myself a storyteller, not a photographer.I’m passionate about using my craft to bring impact to communities and to people in our local community. My art actually revolves around empathy, impact and social good. Those are the three things I do as a storyteller. If you guys don’t know, I’m from Akwa Ibom in Nigeria; South-South Nigeria. The home of Afang soup. I’m a graduate of biochemistry, but right now, I’m more into the creative space. I don’t even remember where my degrees are.
We know that when you were growing up that you wanted to be a doctor, and then you transitioned into studying biochemistry. We wanted to know where you found photography?
"I wanted to study medicine and do surgery. During my time ... I’m an old man (I’m a young person but an old man). During my time, we didn’t have what we now call an aptitude test. It was just a jamb cutoff point and then you get your first choice.What happened was that my first choice was medicine in my University, the University of Calabar. There the cutoff point was 270, I can still remember ... and I had 267. I was 3 points short of being a medical doctor. I went for biochemistry and finished with good grades.
The sojourning into my photography was not a result of there being no work. It was as a result of the fact that I have always been involved in the art. Whilst in university, I was the editor of my departmental editorial board. I’ve always been involved in writing and art.
After university, I had a job with an entertainment company as a writer that produced magazines. I then grew from a writer to an editor. The photography that worked for me as a writer and editor were not the photographs that I wanted for my story.
It was always a struggle. It was like you were always asking them to do too much. You have your vision this way, they have their vision the other way. It was a struggle. One day, I said okay, the company has cameras, let me just try it out. I didn’t know what ISO was, I didn’t know what aperture was. All I knew was, “you carry this thing and press and take a picture. Let me try it" ... and here I am now.
When did you get your 85mm lens?
That was my first ever lens! The story is that I got a job (not a photography job). I got a lot of money, so I decided to invest in equipment. For the first time I left Uyo and came to Lagos ("Okey Japan" [camera store], I can still remember). On reaching Okey Japan I had no idea which camera was what or what they do.
I told them, “guys I need a camera, I need a lens”. One guy said (I remember him; Chidi, he always remembers me whenever I go there). Chidi said “you need this 85, f1.2; it is the best thing now, it just came out.” I said, “how much”? He said ₦680k. I asked him, “it can make people fine abi”? He said, “this is the lens”! That’s how I paid ₦680k for that lens.
On that trip I bought a 5D Mark III. On the same trip I bought a drone. Also on that same day, I bought a 24-70mm lens. I bought it all, money was raining!
The point is that I don’t why I bought them, maybe because I had money then and I was eager to buy stuff. Those guys were just selling to me because I had money not because of what I’ll use them for. Looking back, I now realize that most of the equipment that I bought ... if it were today, I wouldn't buy them because of the knowledge I now have. Then, it was available, a tool, but right now, it's about what I’m going to do with the tools before I buy it. Thinking back, I bought all those items, but right now, I can’t (won’t) buy them.
You had the 85mm lens for a while. You used to use it to shoot portraits, headshots and even group photos! For all the photographers watching, what’s the importance of "mastering" your lens?
The first thing that happens when you master what you have, is that you create a dynamic look for yourself. People are actually celebrating my headshots today, not because I wanted to be a headshot photographer, but because that was what my tool could do. What could have been a weakness (being restrained to a certain frame), actually became a strength.
I had a 85mm and all I needed to know was how to use the lens and take headshots, because of the frame. I learnt to use what I had to do the things I did. I've done it overtime, and now know how the 85mm works. Right now, I don’t know anyone that can shoot with a 85mm better than I do. I’ve shot all the f-stops on my lens, so I know what all the f-stops can do. All in all, it made me create a dynamic look for myself.
You always say: "As photographers, we need to be human beings and not photographers". What do you mean by that?
This is what photographers do when they go on the street (*turns face cap backwards and looks through his camera's viewfinder). They’re using the camera to hide the humanity in them. No one wants to talk to a photographer. No one likes someone who just wants to take a picture of them. Even you as a photographer, if you’re on the street and someone hits you up with a camera you’ll be like "Chill man! Who are you?"Then imagine if you're not even a photographer and all you're trying to do is this (*looks through his cameras viewfinder). You’re hiding yourself. Keep your camera aside, be a human being.
What do human beings do? They communicate. Talk to somebody. That’s the first characteristic of human beings; we communicate. We always find a way to communicate.
This (*looks through his cameras viewfinder) breaks the communication channel. Drop it! Have a conversation with somebody, let them tell you about their day. Tell them about your day. Tell them about how you’re struggling. Let the person know that you’re a human being, that what is happening to them is happening to you. Let them know you care more than the photo that you're about to photograph.
It's not just pictures, you’re trying to share the person’s humanity with everybody. The moment your humanity can’t connect to their humanity, all you're showing are pictures. We don’t want pictures, we want connections.
When I say be a human being, I want you to leave this (your camera), and connect to another human being on that level of humanity. You will be shocked what you would with this (camera) after that experience.
I'll give you an instance, I went for a photo walk at "Falomo" (Lagos) with some friends. When we went there we saw a guy lying down on a carton. It was drizzling. No one was talking to him. I went and sat where he was lying down and told him "what’s up now?" He said, "ah, you come talk to me"? He spoke in pidgin; "you come talk to me, nobody come talk to me." I then said, “me I no be everybody. You why you come dey lie down on the floor like this?"
He started telling me about his experiences as a conductor. That he was waiting for the driver of his bus to come back from the mechanic so he can join and make his hustle for the day. I asked him: “for a conductor, how much do you make when you go out with the driver”? He told me how much he makes in a day.
“Do you know how to drive”? He replied "yes" that he drives sometimes. “So how much do you make if you’re a drive not a conductor”? He told me all those things. We had this back and forth conversation while he was still lying down there.
At the end of the day, he then asked me what do I do. My camera was in my bag (my camera is always in my bag I don’t hang it. I have conversation first before I photograph). I then said, "so well, I’m a photographer." I showed him my phone, I told him this is what I do and all of that. If he wouldn’t mind that I'll like to tell his story too. He was open to it, then I moved him to where the light was perfect for the photograph.
That brings me to two things; if you have a conversation with people, where they may not be perfect for your photographs. That means you can then move them. You don’t move someone you don’t have a conversation with. You need to have a conversation so that you can place them (the subject), where the light is good for your photographs.
... And two, you get to know more than just a single story. To every other person, he was just this guy lying on a carton, they thought he was a mad person. But he had a home, he had a job.
When you go out and photograph people without telling their actual story, you’re giving a one sided view of that person. When I told his story, I told it from an informed position. Not just a one-sided story to fit a certain narrative.
A few months later, I did a portrait for a news agency in the UK. They were doing a story on the Lagos State transport system, conductors and all of that. Guess who I called? I followed him for four days and documented him and he made over ₦300k from it. Imagine if I didn’t have his story, imagine if I didn’t know him, imagine if I didn’t get his number. When the news agency reached out to me to do that kind of story, I would have been looking for other people to talk to. But I already had the person. I called him and we did the job. I’m not just a photographer to him, I’m somebody who is part of his life. I just made him ₦300,000.
It's not just this (the camera), and telling one-sided stories. I always feel annoyed when I see people on the street photographing poor people. You're feeding the narrative that doesn’t actually tell the truth about us as a people. I will never do that! I will always have a conversation, so that my picture represents what the person stands for. I respect people that much. Because if you’re photographing a celebrity, you'll want to depict them in the best way possible. So why do you photograph people on the street and look down on them? They are human beings before they are celebrities. That’s the way I treat my work. I treat people with dignity. I can never photograph someone looking poor. Yes, they’re poor, but first of all, they are human beings, they have dignity. In my work I have to show the dignity, even when I’m presenting that their situation is not well. That’s why I say be a human being, not a photographer.
You always say that "the strongest images are created at the moment of someone’s vulnerability". What does that mean?
When people ask me "how do you photograph your photos to be that strong?", it's because of the conversations. I don’t only train my eyes to see, I train my eyes to listen. We're always saying, “train your eyes to see”. I grew up training both my eyes to see and listen. When you are having a conversation with somebody, if the person is happy, the eyes will give the person away. If the person is sad, the eyes will give the person away. If the person is angry, the eyes will give the person away. I’m paying attention. I’m training my eyes to listen to the person’s eyes, and what the eyes are saying.What I’m doing is having different conversations, like the guy I was talking about in Falomo. We had different conversations; family, money, agberos (thugs) etc. My eyes were trained to listen. The story I wanted to tell was the struggle of a conductor, so what I did was to train my eyes to listen, once he started talking about his experience as a conductor and how people treat him, his face changed, his eyes changed.
At the end of our conversation, I asked him if it was okay for me to take out my camera to photograph him and he said "yes". The only thing I did was to ask him those same questions where he was talking about his experiences as a conductor.
... And immediately, he started talking. All I was doing was clicking away. In those moments when someone is replaying their happy moments, sad moments and trying times, it shows on their face because you’ve had a conversation before and you know what question to ask. I wait for those emotions, then I click my camera and we have our images.
You also say: "when you know the "why" behind your pursuit, you’ll do everything possible to make it happen. How does the everyday photographer find their "why"?
I’m a spiritual person, so I believe God gave everyone a gift. In my Bible, it talks about the parable of the talent. He gave one, the other he gave two, the other he gave five. He gave them all talent. The one that was given five talents when to do business with his and made more. The one that was given one talent, went and buried the talent then blamed the giver.
Everyone has a talent, but the question is "are you burying your talent because it's only one? Or are you maximizing your talent because you know everyone else depends on that?"
So back to my "why". Let me use a project that I've done. If I didn’t chase what I’m doing right now; the guy’s name is Kayode, the conductor guy. Kayode would not have made 300 thousand naira. Katampe would not have had water. Rosemary would not have had food supply and a scholarship. Linda, whom I’m trying to raise money for; with the kidney issue would not have raised 10 million naira in two weeks. That’s the point. I know that my dreams are not just mine. Other people’s lives are tied to my dreams. I don't give up because if I fail, many people will fail because I didn’t achieve my dreams.
Once you realize that your life is not only about you and that there other people’s lives that are tied to yours, you will know that your mission is bigger. That’s my "why".
I always say that my Dad made me sing this hymn; "Oh what can little hands do to please the king of Heaven? The little hands. Their share take. And other people happy make such grace to mine be given!"
The grace is my skills, so I do all I can to help the poor who’s in need, because I want to glorify my Father who is in Heaven. That is my "why"! I want to use my gift to help the poor who are in need in order to glorify my Father who is in Heaven.
You need to realize that people’s dreams are tied to yours. People will fail, if you fail. Yesterday, someone reached out to me that he was struggling with depression. He said that he feels like taking his own life. I’m like, guy, you can’t take your life, like you cannot! It is not allowed! What if there’s a younger person whose 6 years old or 5 years old that's looking forward to you living your dreams. Someday you’ll tell them to not give up on their dreams.
I told him, “you cannot give up. If you give up, some other people’s dreams will not come true.” That is your "why"; knowing that we are all connected. A whole country may fail because you did not do what you were supposed to do. Let your "why" be greater than just you.
I always say that, “if your dreams only include you, it is not big enough, it is too small”. As kids they use to tell us to dream big. Dreaming big means putting other people in thought when you’re planning your own successes. That’s my "why".
 ft. Documentary Photographer: Mayor Otu){kind=link}
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