NIGERIA-BLIND PHOTOGRAPHER Capturing images without sight - a blind Nigerian photographer beats the odds.

Record ID: 237122

  • Title: NIGERIA-BLIND PHOTOGRAPHER Capturing images without sight - a blind Nigerian photographer beats the odds.
  • Date: 6th February 2015
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA, (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TAIWO LAWAL, PHOTOGRAPHER SAYING: "When I told one of my friends that I can take you (picture) she now said, 'Taiwo stop telling lies, you're a liar.' I now said, is it because I'm blind? I know if I see you now, I will take you (a picture), she said stop telling lies. So one day, when I was going out, I now saw that my friend, so, I now said, this is my camera, and I tried to take her and she was surprised." LAWAL WALKING WITH HER GUIDE LAWAL TAKING PICTURES OF A MAN SEATED / HER MENTOR, INNOVATION STRATEGIST, EMMANUEL EFFIONG ASSISTING HER (SOUNDBITE) (English) EMMANUEL EFFIONG, INNOVATION STRATEGIST, SAYING: "I just knew there was something different and special about her, and that's what I do. When I have that feeling, I just know something will work. I just thought, I introduce photography to her, she sounded too visual, too photographic in her explanation and I felt there should be something special. So, when the idea of photography for the blind popped, I just felt she should be the next person." VARIOUS OF LAWAL IN CLASS / CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ELO STUDIOS, SEUN AKINSANMI TALKING TO PHOTOGRAPHY TRAINEES VARIOUS OF LAWAL IN CLASS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEUN AKINSANMI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ELO STUDIOS SAYING: "I'm more sensitive to all that stuff now because of my interaction with her. Realizing that for someone that is blind, her other senses are more active. So it's really been, you know, a great, you know pleasure really working with her. Yes, it's been challenging, it took about two to three times, the longer time that we anticipated. I mean the time it takes to teach a sighted person, it took her longer. Challenging but, I think interesting also because, the willingness to be a photographer is coming from her it's not something that we are forcing on her." (SOUNDBITE) (English) TAIWO LAWAL, PHOTOGRAPHER SAYING: "It has improved my whole life seriously, because I don't know that I can enter plane before, but now, I enter plane. Even though I don't know I can get award with those people that are graduates, me that I did not go to any school, but I know now, with this thing, I know it's taking me to many places." VARIOUS OF LAWAL TAKING PICTURES ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 21st February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5NA7XVK6GQAML4FVD0WBG349B
  • Story Text: Taiwo Lawal is blind; she is also a photographer. At a busy street in the teeming Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos she zooms in on a subject.
    Using her hearing, sense of touch and by talking to the people she is photographing, Lawal is able to take pictures without sight.
    Blind from birth, she picked up photography two years ago.
    Since then the 35-year-old has featured in two exhibitions and won an award for her work in changing how the world views people with disabilities.
    But at first, Lawal says her abilities were not that obvious to her.
    "I watched in my mind, ah... how can I cope with this thing, but in my mind I now said, ah..., Taiwo, why are you crying? You can do this thing now, so, that's all, I'm just doing it," she says.
    "When I told one of my friends that I can take you (picture) she now said, 'Taiwo stop telling lies, you're a liar.' I now said, is it because I'm blind? I know if I see you now, I will take you (a picture), she said stop telling lies. So one day, when I was going out, I now saw that my friend, so, I now said, this is my camera, and I tried to take her and she was surprised," she added.
    Lawal, whose twin sister was also born blind grew up in a small village where there were few opportunities for the visually impaired. The twins were stigmatized and regularly ridiculed for their disability.
    Her sister is now married with children while Lawal is gaining worldwide recognition for her work and is also trained in beadwork and crafts.
    Nearly 25 million of Nigeria's 170 million population are physically challenged according to the World Report on Disability.
    In March 2009, Nigeria's senate passed a law banning the discrimination of people with disabilities, this law became imperative as most disabled people struggled to get jobs.
    Emmanuel Effiong, is an innovations strategist. He introduced Lawal to photography.
    "I just knew there was something different and special about her, and that's what I do. When I have that feeling, I just know something will work. I just thought, I introduce photography to her, she sounded too visual, too photographic in her explanation and I felt there should be something special. So, when the idea of photography for the blind popped, I just felt she should be the next person," says Effiong.
    Lawal trains at the Elo photography studios where she learns alongside sighted students. She specialises in street photography and portraits.
    Photography courses here cost 200,000 naira (100 US dollars) but Lawal trains for free. Elo's CEO and trainer Seun Akinsanmi says teaching Lawal has been a learning experience for him too.
    "I'm more sensitive to all that stuff now because of my interaction with her. Realizing that for someone that is blind, her other senses are more active. So it's really been, you know, a great, you know pleasure really working with her. Yes, it's been challenging, it took about two to three times, the longer time that we anticipated. I mean the time it takes to teach a sighted person, it took her longer. Challenging but, I think interesting also because, the willingness to be a photographer is coming from her it's not something that we are forcing on her," says Akinsanmi.
    "It has improved my whole life seriously, because I don't know that I can enter plane before, but now, I enter plane. Even though I don't know I can get award with those people that are graduates, me that I did not go to any school, but I know now, with this thing, I know it's taking me to many places," said Lawal.
    This year she plans to launch a campaign dubbed "What's Your Excuse?" where she will reach out to young people in schools and universities around Nigeria to encourage them to follow their dreams no matter what.
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