A review of Mulikat Onipede Lawal’s Framing Our Heritage: Preserving Culture Through the Art of Digital Photography by Folorunsho Moshood.
Photography, which is the process of capturing light with a device known as camera and creating an image, is a creative medium of expression and a tool for skill acquisition, job and wealth creation all over the world. The word photography is derived from two Greek words ‘photos’ (light) and ‘graphos’ (writing), which literarily means ‘drawing with light’ and essentially an important tool for documentation and verification of what has been done and achieved.
The book, ‘Framing Our Heritage: Preserving Culture Through the Art of Digital Photography’, lucidly written by Mulikat Onipede Lawal and published in 2021 by OAK Initiative, is a practical guide for skill acquisition in digital photography that provides essential tipsfor cultural preservation through pictorial materials. To ensure that the user is focused, Mulikat sets some questions as ‘teasers’ at the end of some difficult chapters.
The 81-page book, which is divided into seven distinct but interconnected chapters, has a preface and an introduction as a prelude to what the reader should expect in the book. The preface highlights the impact of photography as a story-telling material among other things while the introduction presents the author’s journey into the field of photography, ‘It all started towards the end of my second year in the University back in 2004. I was a Geology Student of the Faculty of Science Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. I was preparing for my first official fieldwork excursion. This is one of the major requirements for a BSc. in Geology. I was given a list of things and equipment needed for the field trip by the Field trip master and it contained tools like a compass, geological hammers, geological maps, camp tents and beddings, field shoes and sun hats, foodstuff, water, and one other important tool, a camera!’.
Chapter one is sub-divided into three parts,‘Photography As a Tool for Promoting Culture’, ‘Capturing Culture and Traditions’, and ‘The Western Nigerian Culture – Dressing’. In ‘Photography As a Tool for Promoting Culture’, Mulikat emphasises the significance of photography not only as a tool for promoting global culture but also as an instrument for connecting people together irrespective of tribe, race and colour. And as the saying goes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words, Mulikat believes that photography has contributed immensely to learning process by documenting events and preserving history in a way that story writing, oral tradition and archaeology will never do. In Capturing Culture and Traditions, the author admonishes that taking photographs randomly will not tell the real story of the people. This must be painstakingly done by reading about the history of a place, festivals being celebrated there, local celebrations, and cultural events before taking photographs. This, according to the author, will prepare the visual artist to respect culture and tradition of the people.
Chapter two is sub-divided into two parts, ‘Camera: What is a Camera?’, and ‘The 10 Main Parts of a Camera or DSLR’. The camera, according to Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French humanist photographer, is an admirable instrument for seizing up on life as it presents itself. It is also a tool for cultural preservation. Culture goes beyond life; it includes the total way of life of a people. The camera could come in various forms by a modern interpretation including cell-phone cameras, digital cameras, and traditional analog cameras.
Chapter three is sub-divided into four parts, ‘Understanding How the Camera Works’, ‘The Camera’s Mode of Operation’, ‘Zoom Lenses and Prime Lenses’, and ‘Taking Care of Your Lens’. In understanding how the camera works, the author classifies the camera into two – Digital Single Lens Reflect Cameras (DSLRs) and Compact Cameras. A professional photographer, according to the author, will be working mainly with DSLR cameras, though both have similar modes of operation. The second part of this chapter deals with the camera’s mode of operation that starts when a user presses the shutter button to take a photo. The author explains that when the shutter button is pressed, the camera shutter opens, allowing light in via the lens. This light passes through the aperture opening and is then captured by the camera’s image sensor. This sensor converts it to an electronic signal and then sends it to the memory card. It can now be previewed as an image on the LCD screen or downloaded into a computer.
The author uses chapter four to display her great knowledge on camera aperture, which is theopening in camera lens where light enters the camera.
Chapter six presents ISO sensitivity value, how to set camera’s ISO sensitivity, steps to follow in selecting the Auto Sensitivity Control, and maximum sensitivity against minimum shutter speed. The last chapter presents the user’s control buttons and their functions in a tabular form.
Painting, drawing and photography are the three basic forms of picture-making media known to humankind. Historically, painting and drawing had been in existence long before photography was invented in 1826 by the French inventor, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. Like in the words of the world-renowned photographer, Ron Bailey, ‘No medium of expression can get to the heart of things – or the human heart itself – with such immediacy and power as photography’, Mulikat Onipede Lawal has not only shown why photography is the most popular of the media, but also brought out simplicity out of the complex process of photography. Within a short period of venturing into photographic business and with this book, she has established herself among the top Nigerian photographic icons such as Sunmi Smart-Cole, Uche James-Iroha and Andrew Esiebo to mention but few. This huge wealth of photographic tutorial is highly recommended to both professional and amateur photographers as well as lovers of photography.