BN Photo Stories: Meet the “Three Musketeers”

Over the next fourteen weeks, two photographers and a writer will be taking us on a theme-based photographic journey through the streets of Lagos and a few other Nigerian cities. In this series of fortnightly posts, they will highlight the little details often forgotten so easily, whilst passing across nuggets for life. In the coming weeks, you will come to better appreciate the resilient spirit of the average Nigerian, the Lagos skyline and the commercial nerve-centre’s ever-nagging traffic jam, the beauty of sunset, and much more. Stay tuned!

Meet the Crew:
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Bayo Omoboriowo (Photographer)

Bayo Omoboriowo is a freelance photographer and photo artiste. A double-finalist (Still Life & Lifestyle) at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Photography Awards in July 2011, his works have appeared on BellaNaija.com, YNaija.com, and in Y! Magazine. The son of a photographer, Bayo’s passion for photography was ignited during his undergraduate days at the University of Lagos, where he studied Chemistry. He loves documentary photography, though he also dabbles into events and portrait. In his final year, he decided to take his photography professional, and his camera became a faithful companion throughout his National Service Year in the city of Port Harcourt where three of his photos were featured at the Niger Delta Fototales Photo Exhibition in 2010. An ardent believer in the future of Nigeria, he says, “Do all you can to be all you should be, and keep smiling even when it’s hard to smile. I love the doggedness of Nigerians and the resilient spirit in every Nigerian.” In five years, he hopes to have become an established Nigerian photographer of international repute, employing photography as a tool for positive global impact. He blogs at www.bayoomoboriowo.com where he shares everyday reality as seen through his lenses.He lives in Lagos, Nigeria

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Jide Odukoya (Photographer)

Jide Odukoya had very few photographs of himself as a kid, unlike his siblings who have many to show off. However, he seems to be on rampage these days to compensate for the past deprivation. Only that he now delights in capturing those special, rare moments in the lives of other people. Jide, a graphic designer and (front-end) web designer, decided to build a career in photography barely a year ago after purchasing a Canon 550D with which he had experimented for a while. His hobby soon turned into a profession following endless surfing of the internet for useful tips on good photo techniques, camera handling and composition. A Photoshop faithful, he dabbles into several kinds of photography, the top three being documentary, street, and wedding photography, in that order. A 2011 graduate of Systems Engineering from the University of Lagos, he has his eyes on the Guinness World Records and hopes to establish a Photography Hub in Nigeria, thereby reaching out to a wider audience. He blogs at www.jideodukoya.com/blog, where he shares photographs and has recently run a 60-day photo walk tagged “60Days through My Lens’’ and, currently, “51 Pictures after 50 Years of Nigerian Independence”. He believes in the need for individual and collective responsibility of Nigerians in making our nation a great one indeed. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria

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Gbenga Awomodu (Writer)

Gbenga Awomodu is an Editorial Assistant at Bainstone Ltd./BellaNaija.com, where he interviews exceptional young entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders, and writes random, insightful and enlightening pieces for the Inspired!, Career, and Music columns of the website. When he is not reading or writing, Gbenga is most likely listening to good music or playing the piano. His writings have appeared on Pank Magazine’s ‘This Modern Writer’ Blog, in Y! Magazine, and he has a fiction piece coming up in Sable Literary Magazine’s Young Writers Issue. He believes in the inspirational power of words and pictures, which he explores in helping to make the world a better place. A 2010 graduate of Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos, he has worked with Action Health Incorporated, a Lagos-based Non-Governmental Organisation as a youth programme assistant [2005] and independent consultant (research & documentation) [2007 & 2011]. In June 2007, he assessed sixteen partner organisations in four States – Nasarawa, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna – working on the David & Lucille Packard Foundation-sponsored Expanded Access to Sexuality Education (EASE) Project in North-Eastern Nigeria, interviewing principal officers, staff and beneficiaries. A graduate of the LEAP Africa Integrity Institute (2006), Gbenga hopes to become a world-class business strategy consultant, contributing to global economic development in no small measure. He believes that “the change we want to see in Nigeria starts with each individual, then each family unit”. He blogs at Gbenga’s Notebook (www.gbengaawomodu.com) and writes from Makurdi, Benue State, where he is presently on the national youth service programme.