…as three young Nigerian photographers emerged winners at the mentorship programme

The Now Collectives Limited (TNC) in collaboration with the global camera giants, Canon last week engaged young Africans in a 2-day photography conference themed, “Africa’s biggest photography conference 2108: Bigger and better”.

The event held at the Four-point Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, is termed as the largest gathering of photographers, educators, entrepreneurs and young leaders in a conference initiative by TNC since 2016 and aimed at developing the creative and entrepreneurial culture in Africa beyond conventional practice.

“With the best in-class speaker line up that was on ground, invigorating open forum talks, general sessions mash-up, moments of inspiration, live shoot demonstrations, motivating mentorship, critic sessions, networking sessions and much more, our goal is to empower African photographers to create their own style of capturing awesome moments.    TNC project is an annual gathering for photographers to connect, share, learn with other colleagues in the industry, be inspired, enlightened and broaden their skills.” says Segun Olotu, CEO, TNC and award winning international photographer.

Whilst being driven by a core vision to empower, inspire and motivate creative professionals, the Now Collectives is focused on a mission to create a platform for learning, interaction, networking, mentoring and collaboration for the next generation of photography icons. “Conference like this has been proven to birth skills, define careers and produce some of our industry icons,” Olotu added.

Seasoned professionals drawn from across the globe as speakers in the event comprises Kevin Ouma, Tom Saater, Andra & Marius Dragen, Sergio Kurhajec and TY Bello. Others include Keith Major, Sabina Mladin, Oluwatoyin David Ajayi and Segun Olotu, the converner and Chief Executive Officer, The Now Collectives. Not left out in the conference was the team from Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA),  Katie Simmonds, Canon Miraisha programme manager, Amy Anaiz among others.

The Canon & TNC Photography Mentorship Programme, an endeavour geared towards fostering young and talented photographers at the beginning of their photographic careers in developing their skills in visual storytelling, comes as part of Canon’s collaboration with TNC, which has given a boost to the annual photography conference that debuted last year.

Announcing the mentees on behalf of Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), Katie Simmonds, Canon Miraisha programme manager, said the goal of the mentorship programme was to attempt to give the young photographers an all-round idea on how to run a photography project from start to finish with the end-game of having a body of work that can be exhibited, thereby helping to push their careers further.

Describing The Now Collectives as a platform which “showcases, celebrates and connects the rich and diverse industry” which Canon works in, Simmonds said it was a momentous occasion for Canon to join the photo and video community in celebrating the massive pool of creative talent across Africa.

“We stand here today affirming our commitment to this region, as partners of The Now Collectives. As the budding new generation of creatives meet here to be enlightened by all the wonderful speakers who have passed through the conference, who are broadening our mindsets, giving us new ways of thinking, and sharing technical skills, whilst enthusing your creative juices to take you to the next level, Canon is here to say that we see tremendous potential in Nigeria and we highly value our involvement in this growing market,” Simmonds said.

Three outstanding participants who excelled during the course of the mentorship programme were selected as winners based on their remarkable input and passion driven performances. They were Dauda Idris Abiola, Rebecca Nwose and Olasubomi Adeyemi got an EOS 1300D Canon Camera with EF-S 18-55mm & EF-S 50mm1.8 lens with camera bag and memory card each.

As part of the programme drawn to support the young photographers, three mentors were announced to guide the three mentees through a one-year journey.    Simmonds was joined by Taiwo    Adediran, Canon channel account manager, and Amy Anaiz, photographer & TNC ambassador, to announce the three mentees. They are Leke Alabi Isama, documentary photographer and filmmaker, Nyancho NwaNri, visual storyteller, photographer and filmmaker, and Segun Olotu, TNC founder and director, while David Ajayi was also mentioned as a dedicated business mentor to work with the mentees.

“The mentors will help to guide the mentees through researching and writing proposals and grants, through to advice and guidance when shooting, to making crucial edits and understanding print workflows,” Simmonds said.

In addition, each of the winners (mentees) will work with a mentor over the course of one year to develop ideas and concepts for a project that they will work on for the duration of the programme, and will also receive financial support towards their project. At the end of the one-year programme, each mentee will have a body of work that will be exhibited at TNC19.

Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the event, Segun Olotu described TNC18 as “great and successful”. “Last year was just a tip of the iceberg. This year has been huge. We have had a lot of support; we have had a lot of feedback which we will be sharing out on our social media platforms soon. And also the collaboration between Canon and TNC has been great. We are looking forward to an even bigger and better TNC19,” Olotu said.