Over 700 sign in for Abuja International Photo Festival
More than 700 participants, mainly photographers had already signed in for the first Abuja International Photo Festival schedule to hold next week. The convener of the festival, Osaze Ekhator at a press briefing on the festival said, the purpose of the festival with the theme; A Thousand Words is to scale up conversation around the […]
More than 700 participants, mainly photographers had already signed in for the first Abuja International Photo Festival schedule to hold next week.
The convener of the festival, Osaze Ekhator at a press briefing on the festival said, the purpose of the festival with the theme; A Thousand Words is to scale up conversation around the power of photography and the power of pictures thereby letting the people know that there is much more in photography than seeing it as a mere hubby or mere activity that one engages in.
“We are calling the society and members of the photography community to let them know that there is so much more in what we do as photographers. With pictures, we can engage national discussion and also initiate conversation that would help develop a better society.”
Ekhator said the two-day photo festival schedule for the 14th and 15th September was borne out of his inspiration to have a unique platform where photographers will meet and share their experiences thereby learning from each other adding that they are also to empower them to become better photographers in serving their clients and empowering themselves economically.
The Nigeria SDGs Youth coordinator, Mr. Semiyo Michael said, in this part of the world, creativity is not celebrated and this is a creative world. “People believe in labour, something that is difficult or something that you have to be sweating, that is when they believe you are hardworking but development is all about innovation which is the ability to make the physically unseen become a reality and that is the work of art.”
He said that photo is one of the most expensive adventures in the world adding that they discovered that photographers made money by the minutes but in this part of the world we have neglected creativity and innovation.
“We have not labour our brain in that environment and that is why you see that photography is not celebrated in Nigeria. But the qualities of the pictures some people take in terms of the perspective they create through the image they capture are too expensive to quantify in terms of monitory cost.
He added that in the media today, digital story telling is the in thing which is structured around image. “We tell development stories today via images. Photography takes a very key role in development stories today because they tell the exact story, they spur emotions and understanding of people.”
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regional director, Ydo Yao representing his organization said, they are on ground to provide capacity building, technical and institutional support.
He said the festival is also an opportunity to raise awareness and to promote the profession while urging that such should be replicated across the States of Nigeria and supported by the State government thereby creating job opportunities for the youth.