An Interview with Ayodimeji Chukwuma Olugbewesa

POSTED IN Art, Art history, Culture, Digital art, Photography
By Amara Iwuala
“Documenting Ben Carson’s Visit to Olumo Rock is one of the High Points of My Career.” – Ayodimeji Chukwuma Olugbewesa, Photographer/Visual Artist
Ayodimeji Chukwuma Olugbewesa has established himself in Photography, a profession where his father and late grandfather’s achievements are noteworthy. Olugbewesa, who runs D’mayo Photography, speaks with Amarachukwu Iwuala on his exploits in his calling.

 

 

Ayodimeji started out as a Still Life and Documentary Photographer but fell in love with Portraiture and Fashion Photography because he is fascinated by fashion and the human facial landscape. He also hand-paints backdrops for other photographers, which is a form of Visual Arts.

 

 

His grandfather, the late Pa Samson Olubanwo Olugbewesa, was a Photographer and the President of The Photography Association in Lagos until his demise in 1996. Ayodimeji notes, “As a child, I never really had any triggers to become a visual artist or photographer. I thought I’d have studied a course in science and technology.”

 

 

However, the seed of Photography must have been sown in Ayodimeji while he was in secondary school because his father’s print lab manager usually bought film cameras for him and after shooting with them, he gave her the film to develop for him. Ayo’s dad, Babatunde Olugbewesa, owned a print lab until some years ago.

 

 

Olugbewesa notes that, so far, one of the high points of his career was meeting Ben Carson and documenting Carson’s trip to Olumo Rock in 2012. He recalls an experience during that project. “When I was documenting Ben Carson’s excursion to Olumo Rock, Carson tried to use Siri on his iPhone to turn on his camera for a selfie. Of course, it didn’t work. I guess it was because we were at the apex of the rock. That moment was quite funny.”

 

 

He remarks that apart from learning the creative side of Photography, it is also important for photographers, especially the up-and-coming ones, to understand the business of Photography.

 

 

Olugbewesa has done two exhibitions so far; the first one took place whilst he was an Accounting undergraduate at the Babcock University Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, whilst the second went down at the Freedom Park, Lagos, on the World Photography Day in 2013. He hopes to do more exhibitions in the future.

 

 

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