IT was a quality crowd at a private ceremony held on August 4 at the swanky office of the Temple Management Company (TMC) in Victoria Island, Lagos to unveil the winner of the 2018 Fashola Photography Foundation contest.
Inaugurated last year by the children of the late Alhaji Ademola Fashola, a keen photographer, art enthusiast and father of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the Foundation aims to support, promote and develop visual arts -photography, cinematography and videography in Nigeria.
Programs lined up for community engagement each year includes a series of contests for emerging and professional photographers, portfolio reviews and exhibitions.
The photo contest is to improve the skills of young Nigerian photographers through quality training. Selected budding photographers from hundreds of applicants are taken through a one-week free intensive workshop where they are exposed to different forms of photography by professionals. The winner and two runners-up emerge from their ranks.
This year, Uche OkpaIroha, Charlotte Langhorst, Adeola Olagunju, Uche James Iroha, Isaac Emokpae and Tam Fiofori were among the facilitators that exposed the young photographers to street photography, documentary-making, video art and portraiture as well as developing curatorial and technical skills. Others were Emmanuel Oyeleke, OyindaFakeye, Abraham Oghobase, Lukman Olaonipekun (Lukesh) and LogorOluwamuyiwa Adeyemi.
Welcoming guests to the unveiling ceremony attended by Fashola, his wife, Abimbola, siblings and other members of the family, one of AlhajiFashola’s grandchildren, Demola, explained that the Foundation is a labour of love to honour their grandpa. “This is carrying on in the spirit of what he lived for; photography and the arts. Our aim is to push photography and the arts in general; to help photographers hone their crafts,” he added while soliciting the support of Nigerians.
Giving an impromptu testimonial after the facilitators were presented with their certificates and before the winner was unveiled, Kehinde Yusuf who took last year’s top prize, appreciated the Foundation. “Going to the New York Film Academy was a dream come true; it was very nice. I was lucky to be in the midst of people of great minds. I was taught by great professionals and I’m grateful to the Fashola Foundation and Temple Management Company.”
Stretching the suspense, a little bit more, officials of TMC, the pan-African talent agency and event company that curated the training, chose to present certificates to all the participants before the eventual announcement of the winners.
And for the second successive time, another budding female photographer, EbunAkinbo, took the first prize ahead of the other nine participants. NnamezieAsogwa and Fawaz Oyedeji emerged the first and second runners-up respectively.
Akinbo, a full-time photographer based in Lagos was rewarded with a Canon EOS 5D camera and an exclusive exhibition at October’s Lagos Photo Festival. Asogwa got a Nikon D7100 camera while Oyedeji was given an Apple Mac Book Air.
Apart from the quality training they had received, the other contestants, Anthony Onyejesi, Ralph Eluehike, AdedokunOluwatoyin, Akhenebiri Joshua, Adekunle Bryan, Christopher Nelson and Stephanie Ugwu got certificates.
Giving her acceptance speech, Akinbo said, “I want to thank my colleagues. Without you, I wouldn’t have won. You brought out the best in me. I didn’t see it as a competition, I saw it as a team bonding exercise. I am excited to be a winner. Temple Management, the way you people took care of us, you’re excellent. The facilitators were superb; I’m really grateful.”
Speaking, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing thanked guests for joining the Fashola family in remembering the “truly remarkable life and celebrating the very important values” that their patriarch represented.
He also thanked the facilitators and participants for commitment and diligence, telling the contestants, “thank you for your belief and spirit of venture. I was saying to my siblings, especially Yinka, that the women have truly taken over yet they ask for empowerment. Last year, we had a female winner. Now, we have a female champion. But I noticed something when the prizes were announced that nobody felt any sense of shortcoming, everyone felt a sense of fulfilment for having participated. For me, that’s a very important spirit, a very important value for our nation today. I feel privileged that my family is involved with something that is contentious yet not acrimonious. And they are very strong values; a sense of competition. The nation needs this. Our communities, the society, our homes will thrive by competition and it will increase productivity.”
Commending the winner, the Minister said, “even before she spoke, she demonstrated so much humility in the way she accepted her prize. She made my day when she first acknowledged her competitors and that was truly remarkable from a very young person. It’s a value that we need to be revived and even us adults, learn from younger people that there would be no winners if there were no competitors. The competition wouldn’t be a competition if others didn’t give their best. Miss Akinbo, thank you very much. Listening to you will also make people learn that there’s still a way for this nation as long as we continue to make many more of you 10 participants and many more Akinbos.”
and then