Meet the new ‘Chairman’ of Photography in Nigeria, August Udoh

August Udoh isn’t just a Photographer with a Camera, he is a true story teller – Capturing a thousand words in every photo he takes. He has several photo documentaries to his credit, and works with Celebrities including M.I, eLDee, Eva Alordiah, Burna Boy, Olamide, Sound Sultan, Iceprince and more. I recently caught up with him for a quick chat, and if you thought Photography was all about holding a camera and clicking away, then you’d be amazed at the level of intelligence this young man reaches.

August Udoh – photographer

August Udoh, photographer

We have yearly photography workshops, mostly focused on teaching beginners in photography how to properly handle future jobs when if or when the decide to go pro or keep the photography skill set as a hobby. We actually have one coming up pretty soon, and it should be pretty enjoyable
- August Udoh
(For Details of this Photography training workshop, CLICK HERE)

With a catalog and artistic collections of works in Documentary, Editorials, Print, Entertainment and Portraits, August Udoh definitely isn’t just another photographer. He is the Photographer to read about. I was particularly interested in his works with the Kogi Flood victims and the Dambe traditional boxers in Lagos state.

He says of his works:

In my work there is a part that is documentary, Meaning I work with what’s in front of me, its not made up but its put into play, it’s an alibi for creating situations and telling stories, I don’t invent the stories, am more like an observer. I think of as the note taker in a court room typing away, No prior interest, just getting every single detail sent my way.
Still photography gives the world something to look at, something to think about, something to ponder about and something to concentrate on, am a portrait photographer and am just trying to convey a story with images without written words, as a photographer the moment you click that shutter you have captured a moment that will never be recovered ….what I have named, ‘Captured Moment In Stills’.
Photography is important because as a Nigerian I observe we forget a lot of things, we forget where we come from,who we are, where we are heading to. We left behind a lot of our history hence why we have a lot of our society with identity problem, everybody is struggling to be someone else, so in order not to forget, I have a passion to remind the society of who we are through my photographs – August Udoh

What is it about you and Photography?  
August Udoh –  I love photography not because of its static sound power but the fact that you can move in and out of people’s lives in minutes. I get to share a life with the sitter for a moment or more, when you seat or stand for me to photograph, I might not see you again after that and we might never cross paths again, that in itself is very interesting to me…I think of all my shoots as a shared moment.
I like to think of myself as an amateur photographer, simply because it makes it easy for me to stay grounded and want to learn more everyday, also to be creative you have to constantly become a beginner, I am a portraitist. I find the human face interesting and my belief is; ‘In the end there is nothing but the face and the truth is the power of the landscape of the face, the valleys and the promontories and all other elements they represent, its truly how we know each other and there is nothing on earth more fascinating than the human face’. I find it amazing, how you can recognize a tribe or a race with just the face.

Eva Alordiah

Olamide

Goldie

Endia

Iceprince

Chidinma

Olamide

Sound Sultan

Did you always want to be a Photographer growing up?

I never wanted to be a photographer; I’ve always wanted to make movies so I have tried a number of times to make my interest known to filmmakers via internet and other Medias to request working with them, after which I intend to travel abroad to further knowledge by studying filming.
I met Mr. Tunde Kelani one of my favorite film makers and he invited me to his home residence, we had a chat after which he told me he started as a photographer, also informed me that some of the best cinematographers today started off as a photographer which is what you will be taught in your first year of film school and he suggested I get a camera and start off taking photos, initially I thought he just didn’t want to help, he then said if I am good enough with my work and the camera that he will employ me. I was psyched, got all my funds together, got myself a camera. Back then it was a Nikon D40 that was a great camera for starters, I started by taking shots family members, friends and everything that was in front of me, worthy of the camera, I have since then photographed, fell in love with it but never went back to Mr.Tunde Kelani, I am very grateful for his advice because even though I might make movies in future photography will always be my medium of story telling…

Still very young with an exceptionally bright future ahead of him, August Udoh stays grounded and dedicated to his art.  Not one to keep the knowledge of the arts and Photographer all to himself, he has become a Mentor to many budding photographers and image creators, offering his time and services to the School extension of his Photography studio.
Do you have your Workshops open to all? Does this happen Monthly or Yearly?
We have yearly photography workshops, mostly focused on teaching beginners in photography how to properly handle future jobs when if or when the decide to go pro or keep the photography skill set as a hobby.
We actually have one coming up pretty soon, and it should be pretty enjoyable as participants would get a rare opportunity to work with Top music magazine, MyStreetZ magazine, Femi Kuti and the Africa Shrine, Female Rapper Eva Alordiah and her Makeup company ‘makeupByOrsela. It is, i believe a total package for an aspiring Photographer.

So much to learn from this young man with such extraordinary talents in Photography and Photo Editing. To Participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity to learn Photography at its best, see details of his much talked about Workshop program here 

Below are some photos by August, Capturing the Kogi Flood victims from his Documentary project “Things we Lost in the Flood“