On the Lens: Discussions on Photography

Paul Otieno, a.k.a Paulshinski, is a commercial and advertising photographer with experience in food, drinks, and product photography. He is the creative director at Silverball Africa, and a director of the Kenya Film Classification Board.

In this first part, of a two-part conversation, Paul shares the backstory of the different mediums he used to learn photography, including the mentors that guided him through his learning journey. He shares tips on what an upcoming photographer should do to push forward their photography career or body of work. Additionally, he discusses the importance of finding your niche.

Find out more about Paul here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paushinski/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-otieno-bb28921b2/

Derrick Milimo is an indepenent portrait and documentary photographer. He is focused on social, environmental and cultural issues in Kenya. 

In this episode, Derrick shares with us the story of how he transitioned from his job as an accountant to being a full-time creative entrepreneur. He breaks down what led him to this shift, as well as the ups and downs of plunging into creative work. He also guides us through what inspired his works portraying daily life in the Kenyan world.

You can find out more about Derrick here: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derrick_milimo/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-milimo-446904a8/

Website: https://www.derrickmilimo.com/

In this episode, Marvin Mwaura shares with Savannah how he got into portrait photography and what it took to grow himself as a freelancer. He shares on networking with people and maintaing the right impression with them, as well as why you should take on free jobs and how to choose which kind is right for you. Marvin shares tips on techniques he implements in his photography, including directing models. He also shares his experiences and the in-and-outs of what it takes to grow a portrait photography career in real life.

You can see his work on:

Instagram - @Marvinmwaura - https://www.instagram.com/marvinmwaura/

Background Music By: Baraka Munene

This episode is with Biko Macoins, also known as @slumphotography on Instagram. He is a photographer who captures the stories of the people living within the Kibra community. He is committed to respectfully capturing their experiences and lives in a true to life manner, outside the preconceived narrative that many have towards the Kibra community.

Biko is also an award-winner, having won Most Influential Personality (2014) and Best Photographer in Africa (2015). He shares his thoughts on finding inspiration in other's work, appreciating the space you're in, and viewing photography as an ongoing learning process. Additionally, he shares on his initiative "Piga Picha Mtoi Asome" (Take a picture, Educate a child), which is focused on ensuring that children are able to complete their secondary education. He hopes that he can enable young people to have a voice, outside the shadows of others.

You can check out his work on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slumphotography/

Big News! 

We've changed our podcast title to "On the LENS: Discussion on Photography".

To kickstart our second season, Savannah sits with Margaret Njeri, aka Sherie. She is an award winning photographer, having won the pan-African Mask Prize in creativity in 2019. She is also a filmmaker and an all around artist, who is passionate about communicating important messages with the art that she creates. 

In this conversation, they discuss how Sherie creates awareness on mental health and explores the struggles women deal with through her photography. Sherie also shares on how she got started in photography, as well as how the other art forms she applies have influenced her photography.

You can check out more of her work on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherie_margaret_ngigi/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-njeri-ngigi-29861a153/

Background Music By: Baraka Munene

Siva Balendra shares on his experiences travelling around the world, taking beautiful photos. 

In this episode, David dishes to Savannah all the details about his journey into the world of food photography. Though David didn't start out as a photographer, his passion for food pushed him into it. His blog, House of Tasty by DK, inspired him to learn how to showcase his own food creations in fresh and creative ways. He shares with us some of the creatives that influenced his work and what the photography learning journey looked like for him. Using what was easily available to him, David courageously stepped into the unfamiliar world of photography.

* This episode was recorded in March, 2021.

You can check David's work out on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkinyanjuii/

House of Tasty by DK: https://davidkinyanjui.com/

Jik-Reuben Pringle is an experienced photographer based in Kingston, Jamaica. His expertise branches across portraiture, event, and food photography, to name a few. He has also lectured on photography at the University of Technology, Jamaica, and has spent 9 years documenting artistes in the reggae music industry. As you can imagine, this conversation has a lot of great learning points! For this reason, there are two parts to it. Each one covering his story and a wide range of other topics. In this episode, Savannah and Jik-Reuben discuss how idea creation for concept shoots, finding the balance between the art and science of photography, and the process of implementing your concepts. 

You can check Jik-Reuben and his work out on the following links. Website- http://www.jikreubenvisuals.com/ Instagram- http://www.instagram.com/jikreuben