London Running....

Ahh, it's that time of the year when people get on their running shoes for a one time appearance, tear tendons, lose weight, and such & such. It's the 2006 London marathon, Sport to some, a feat for others. A time when people raise cash for worthy causes, or undertake a personal achievement in endurance.


A time of the year that you can dress up in fancy dress and no-one would bat an eye:

It's the only public sporting event in London where, if your a black male participant, you can dash pass the Police and not be stopped and searched. Good times, good times!

As has been tradition for me, I go out and take shots of the event, so I present to you snaps from the run! It's been raining, but that's nornally the case during the race, so had to be careful not to damage my gear.

To all the runners, I hope that you reached your personal best.

Are some risks worth it?

Legendery photojournalist, Robert Capa, once said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." He ended up dying after stepping on a Land mine in Indochina.
Like most things in life, you have to take risks to get what you want. As a photographer, the same principle applies: you have to take risks to get the shot.

But, really: Are some of the risks really worth the palaver?

Take this shot, for instance:


It was snapped at WOMAD Sri Lanka Festival of Drums 2005, from the top of a scaffolding that must have violated hundreds of building regulations. However me, and my questionable reasoning at times, decided that I wanted to get a picture angle from other photographers. I then proceeded, with full gear, to go all King Kong, and climbed up the scaffolding. Climbing up and getting the frames I wanted was one challenge, getting down in the near dark conditions with cameras dangling was another thing. The stupidity at times. I tell you.

Cut a long story short, I did get shot. Despite all of the palavar of getting permission from security to get the shot, and the danger of slipping and breaking my back, the flaming picture was never published, so I decided never again to pull a stunt like that again. (well, within reason, that is!)

Call me a coward for all I care, but there are Calculated Risks, and there is just plain gung-ho moronic behaviour! (The second I clearly demonstrated in getting that shot!)

"Ummm.... Nikonlicious..."

I really don't ask for much from life materially. I don't ask for massive mansions ("who's going to clean that place up??"), nor do I ask for Billions of £££££. Ok, maybe a couple of millions, so I can indulge myself in following up my career within pictures. All in due time.. all in due time.

But, when it comes to wanting anything photography related, is that too much to ask? In this day and age of digital photography, it's becoming a very, very expensive past time/career. If you're into any branch of photography, and you don't have the sufficient funds, then you might just have to mortgage your soul. It was hard enough to purchase a Analog medium format camera then. Do you have any idea how much a digital hassalblad back alone costs?

Which brings me to my materialistic desire. May I present to you the Nikon D2X:


As I've mentioned, I don't ask for much, but whenever I see one of these babies in action, I just have a drooling moment..



You hear stories of people paying £100, 000 for a dress, or £85 for a sandwich (I swear, unless it has some manna from heaven, I'm not paying that much for a sandwich!! What kind of foolishness is that??) You hear so many ways in which moronic purchases (in my opinion) are made, that you just have to wonder how people even come into certain finances in the first instance. It also brings about that quote that 'A fool and his money are easily parted'.

So, if you're one of the elite bourgeois with serious disposable income, and have that almighty dilemma of figuring out how to spend your money on items that will not benefit any long term rewards, then may I suggest you contribute towards to the 'WORAN NEEDS A D2X' kitty. All donations will be fully appreciated.

In the mean time, I will have to be content with my classic F5. Might not get the job done, but it'll have to suffice:

© Kevin Parrott

Travels of a Niaja photographer: In India. Part II

So, the journey continued, and we made our way to the hill stations of Munaar, after 2 uneventful days at Thekkady. (And trust me, it was uneventful. If you're looking to see tigers at the sanctuary, forget about it. You have more chance of seeing aliens appearing in your dreams! You may see monkeys aplenty further down and loads of pilgrims, but definately no tigers. Oh, and should you want to take an elephant ride up the hills, make sure you haggle.)

I have to say that of all the places visited in India, Munaar comes up tops. The atmosphere and people were chilled and friendly, although G did come down with food poisoning due to some 'Daal'. (She hasn't touched that stuff since!)

"Picture Library?"

This shot was taken early this morning of Louie Vega and his band yesterday. Really good show. The music was funky, the lyrics were meaningful, and you could actually sway your head to the beat. Then again, you ought to when it comes to Latin vibes.

I used to work in a Picture Library for one of the Nationals, and
we dealt with different kind of picture requests from the Picture Desk. Some of the requests were so dumb, that there was a book dedicated to 'Moronic Requests'. Worst thing about these requests were that no matter how much you tried to convince the researchers that certain images could not be located in the library or could not have existed, the Picture Researchers were insisted in having such pictures.

Picture the scene, if you will. You're busy in Picture Archives, and the phone goes off:
You: "Picture Library?"
Researcher:"Yes, I need pictures, preferably in colour, of Adam & Eve."
You:"Adam & Eve, huh? Well, let's see if we have any illustrations of.."
Researcher: (cutting you off) "No! I need real pictures of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden!
You: "Errm, I don't believe that photography was even in existence at that time. Maybe.."
Researcher: "Oh! You people! Don't you guys have anything in that library??"

Ok, maybe she's an atheiest, or never went to Sunday School, or doesn't know much about Religion. That's all well and good. Yet, how do you explain this pictorial demand:

You: "Picture Library?"
Researcher: "Yes, I need pictures of Ghosts, please."
You: "I doubt you'll be able to get pictures of ghosts, but we do have illustrations of ghosts, and some film stills of ghosts and..."
Researcher: (Very Insistent) "Oh, how can you not have pictures of ghosts? Someone ought to have a picture of a real ghost!! And I need one that is chained!"
You: (Now realising that you don't get paid enough to deal with morons, but you try to be as patient as possible) "I can safely assure you that we don't have any pictures of said request. If you check any other Picture Library, they will tell you the same thing: they either have stills or doctored shots of ghost illustrations. May I suggest that..."
Researcher: "Useless bunch!" (And slams phone down!)

Suffice to say that I had a few words with that person for slamming the phone down on me!

Or should I regale you with the call requesting for me to send to her desk all the images we have of World War 2 ("Erm, I think you might want to be a bit specific with that!" "No! Give me everything you have, and I want it NOW!")

Yep.. the dumb gene is never too far to find in some people....

"And the winners were..."

Yesterday was the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards 2006, and here are some of the shots of the winners from the night. Don't expect me to review, because that's one of the reasons why I become a photographer. If anything, I don't understand why anyone would be paid just to critique a show. There are 3 kinds of reviews:"I like it", "I'm not too sure/Give it a chance", and "It Sucked!" But hey! Good business is hard to find. Enough with the chit chat.. and here with the pictures. As always, copyright stipulation applies:

Oi!! Down in front!

Picture the scene, if you will: You've finally made your way into the gig. The lighting is great and you've set the right F/stop and Shutter Speed. You've composed the subject on stage and your ready to take that shot. And then this happens:

Words cannot explain enough how frustrating this can be for any photographer working in the pit, especially since we have a time limit, and the camera team have free rein. I know that they have every right to be there. I mean, they are just doing their job just as we are, but can't we have some kind of compromise?? Make no mistake, but I get the feeling that the day is still coming, when there is going to be a tag team fight in the pit between photographers and television crews. It's just a matter of time. Le'ts just hope that all teams involved are fully covered with good insurance!

Travels of a Niaja photographer: In India. Part I

Growing up in Nigeria, I watched my fill of 'India movies classics like 'Amar Akbar Anthony', 'Mother India' and 'Sholay', that were routinely debated at school and parties. Forget the fact that most of these films never had sub titles. There was always someone who would translate the film into his or her own version. Funnily enough, we normally got the general gist of the plot after watching it 3 or 4 times. (what else could you watch on Nigeria TV on a friday night or on Betamax video??) I never thought that I would ever go to India.

As God's grace would have it, a couple of months ago I was in India, and the plan was to cover most of the South of India, and then go up North. Now, since blogging while journeying was going to be an issue, I've decided to play catch up now.
So, I'm going to try and chronicle the journey and some of the areas visited, and not in any particular order.

First area of exploration was Tamil Nadu, and we (as in Myself, 'G' and our driver, Mr.Murulee) had been on the road from Maduira, and got into Kanyakumari around 2.30 in the morning. G was already in the land of Nod, so I pulled sentry, keeping an eye on the driver, just in case he decided to have '40 winks'. The guy barely spoke any english, and my Tamil isn't all that, so conversation wasn't anyting to go by. That wasn't going to stop me from trying to keep this guy or myself awake, though. From sharing chewing gum to asking him to increase the volume on the radio, I used every guerilla tactic to keep him and us awake. If you have ever driven on Indian, roads or Nigerian Roads, you'll understand why I was paranoid. I mean, if God says it's your time to die, that's all well and good, but sometimes you don't need to speeden up the process.
So, with the information we were given about Kanyakumari being the further most tip to where the sun rises, we decided to get up early and see this spectacular sight of nature in action. So, come 5.30am, we get up, thinking that we might see maybe a couple of people wanting to do the same thing. How could I have got that so wrong?!?!? The place was packed out with worshippers, pilgrims, traders, tourists and scammers. I had my gear with me to take pictures, and thankfully none of the local photographers asked for me to have my picture taken. Probably because I had a ticked off look due to some dust on the camera sensors.

I have to say, it was a sight to behold. Makes you feel alive and appreciative of the work of God. The one shot I'm proud off is of the 3 worshippers aligned with the monument on the other side of the sea, with the sun coming up. ISO200, F16 @ 1/125th of a second. (I'm sure thats the setting.) If unsure, try out the setttings whenever you see a sunrise. And if you live in London, you might be lucky!

A Night of Blues and a Pack of crisps!

Ok. Yesterday saw the final tour of Blues legend, B.B King in the UK. Now, to get photography accreditation for this gig was going to be a struggle and a half, so I contacted the appropriate people, but nothing came out of that. And that does not suprise me at all. I'm still waiting for a response for accreditation for LIVE 8 London 2005, but no responses. Some people are so rude. Anyway, I had the last laugh. (HAH!) I ended up covering the real Live 8: Africa Calling, at the Eden project, Cornwall.

Anyway, As favour would have it, a fellow photographer asked me to take his place in taking pictures of the B.B King show, and of course, yours truly was going to oblige. And what a show! It started off with support from Gary Moore.
The lighting wasn't that great, but if you can take shots at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, then this was a walk in the park. All the photographers in the pit could only shoot 2 songs (managerial stipulation), so every shot counts. Some punk, I have no idea but it got security riled up, started shooting before we were allowed to start. It's inconsideration like that that spoils it for the rest of us. I managed to get a couple of shots before we were chucked out.

Now, as a rule, I normally pack a bottle of water or sweets in my bag for every gig I go on. This time around, I completely forgot. So, while waiting for us to cover Mr King's act, I wondered off to buy a Snickers bar. Got to the foyer, but was told that there were no snickers but tubs of maltesers. I didn't feel like having maltesers, and I knew that you'd have to pay premium for chocolate, so I opted for a bag of simple Walkers crisps. By this time a queue was forming behind me, so when the cashier told me that the pack of crisp would cost £1, I had already committed my hand to pocket to pay. Now, call me Ebenezer Scrooge or an Ijebu for all I care, but £1 for a bag of crisps???? And the flaming pack is never full. Ooh, don't go all 'Holy than thou' on me when it comes to such things: Let He/she without sin cast the first stone. "Cast it!!"
Forty minutes later (and eating every crumb from that bag of crisp!), we were called in to take shots of the 3rd & 4th song of B.B. King. And what a show!! And get this: The lighting was AMAZING! I rarely get to say that whenever shooting gigs, so when you take pictures with sufficient lighting and balancing between 1/125th-250th of a sec at an aperture setting of F2.8 or over, then xmas has come early. The lighting was so good that you could have taken a bite out of all that goodness!!

And here's a shot of the man from the night:

All Images copyrighted to Akin Aworan (Except the Walkers Crisps, which reluctantly came courtesy of Pepsico Products!)

Kids & Pixs in public..

© Aworan. (18-35mm, ISO 400)

We now live in a society where taking pictures of young children could get you labelled as a having 'paedophiliac tendencies' , and thats all thanks to some depraved punks out there. Taking your camera out to take innocent shots becomes a flaming challenge! As a matter of fact, whenever I walk into work and I have my camera out, the moment I come near the local school, I put my camera away. The age of innocence has truly left the building!! I did come across this interesting site that talks about legal implications, Rights and other technicalities of taking pictures within the publich domain, so its worth checking out.

However, there have been moments you see a picture in the making that you just have to take the shot, irrespective of potential consequences. One such example was of the image above. These kids were playing in the car park outside my flat, and they saw this motorcycle, which was a true beauty, if I may say so myself. If anything, what such a bike was doing in my neighbourhood is beyond me, considering people like to 'borrow' anything that looks good to take! Anyway, on seeing the bike, the kids started off by having one of them touching the handle bar, while the other kid kept watch. They would then rotate shifts. They then moved from touching the handle bars to being as brazen as ever: they began jumping up and down, and pretending to be riding the machine. They were truly fascinated by the bike, and spent about 30 minutes playing with it. I thought it was an interesting observation to see how boys just love their toys.

By the way, I had to take the shots from the kitchen window. Taking pictures of kids in public these days is like going on a wild safari . Always take the shot from a safe distance. Problem with that is that such an action can be misconstrued as an ulterior motive. Catch 22 situation, I guess.

"Strike a pose!"

This I know to be true: Women love to pose! Fact. You might want to dispute that with me, you're entitled with your opinion. It's not a sexist remark, in case any Liberal Feminist/Masculated Fascist brings out the knives. I've made this comment based on daily observations whenever I'm with the camera. Nothing is wrong with posing. To pose in front of the camera is, according to Ak's definition, a physical projection of emotions choreographed and presented as a suppossed expression of your true self for the camera. (Hey! There was only so much Psychology I wanted to learn at University!)

I love taking pictures whenever a person's guard is down. It capture's their true emotion. But whenever the camera is out, and a potential subject knows it's out, then you best believe that all kinds of 'natural looks' are thrown into the mix.

You think I'm making this up? Well, experiment with these tried and tested observations:

If a woman around knows that you have a camera, observe how she systematically adjusts her hair; contemplating which way to turn when asked to look, and most importantly making a mental note if she looks good enough for you to take the shot anyway. ("I'm ready for my close up!!")

If a woman says she doesn't like having her picture taken, and keeps on harping about that, then it's a given that she likes her picture taken. To prove this, say your about to put the camera away. I can guarantee that within 5 minutes, she'll ask why you don't have your camera out.

Whenever you do take a portrait shot, always notice how the face dips down, how the eyebrow is raised, and how the hair covers certain angles of the face. Yep.. its all in the pose.

The one pose that cracks me up is the 'bent' knee look. I only want to take a shot of a face, and for some unexplainable reason, the knee slightly bends, and other dramatic actions, which might probably help in getting the right facial expression. Hey! Whatever works for you!

As I mentioned, nothing is wrong with posing. Even I like to pose:

Viva música latina!!

Yesterday's gig at the Coronet featured Amparanoia (You're going to have to check up why such a name. But, hey!) and Ska Cubano. It's part of the month long Latin music festival in London. There's just something relaxing about latin music. I can't play any musical instruments, save for the congas, and you really have to be deaf to want to listen to me try out! However, whenever I hear latin (or Jazz), I like to pretend i can play with the band while snapping away. Don't judge me! I know many of you who use the comb as a microphone and mime as either Elvis or whatnot in front of the mirror. I guess the same could be said for every kind of genre of music, based on whoever is listening to it. Yet, what I find interesting about covering latin music gigs is that, everyone is chilled out! Don't also expect just to stand. You're expected to salsa. And if you have no idea how to salsa, help is at hand from anyone who doesn't have two left feet.

(Shot of Amparanoia's Amparo Sanchez, taken using Iso 800, F2:8, 1/50th, No Flash!)
(c) (Aworan 2006)