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Few months ago, IndyPress’ journalist, Bamijoko  Favour, interviewed Praise Isa,  a recent graduate of the Department of Wood and Biomaterial Engineering,   University of Ibadan. Praise Isa, in the interview, shared insight on his personal life and craft as a cinematographer.

Kindly introduce yourself to us, and tell us how you describe yourself, your interests, the basic things about yourself?

I am Praise Isa. I just graduated from the Department of Wood and Biomaterial Engineering in the University of Ibadan. Contrary to public opinion, I describe myself as an introvert. A lot of people would disagree but I would say I’m an introvert. But I’m an introvert that just chooses an extroverted line of work. Only a few people know that part of me, that I keep to myself. But now the work I do does not allow this, it’s like a conflict of interest. Another thing about me is that I’m curious, I want to see, to explore, and that’s one of the things that made me go into this line of work. Because I want to see things. I also want people to see what I see.

What is your course about?

It was formerly Wood and Product Engineering. But it is now Wood and Biomaterial Engineering. Research has shown that we don’t only work on wood, we also work on biomaterials. As in materials made from biological processes. For example, from coconut husks we can make a composite board from that. A composite board can refer to plywood, MDF.  When people talk about wood, they are looking at solid wood. However, Engineering has evolved from solid wood. There is now built-up wood. So, we study the engineering of wood and biomaterials.

How did you choose this line of Engineering?

I tossed around a bit, but I decided on Mechanical Engineering. Fresh out of high school, I wrote UTME exams and did not get the admission. At some point, I told my parents I wanted to do Theatre and Performing Arts but they said they would not pay my school fees. I wrote UTME exams two or three times. Afterwards, I did a Diploma in Civil Engineering, and after finishing that, i tried to get a BSc in Civil Engineering and during the admission process, Civil Engineering did not work, and Wood Product and Biomaterial Engineering came to the table. I was running on the notion that “it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it”, that was why I came here for BSc. So, along the line I started trying out interesting things but there was 80% chance I would not practise. But [ultimately], it’s a very interesting knowledge.

What would be the most interesting experience you had during the course of your studies?

I think my most interesting experience will be my final year project because that was when I began to actively source for a topic, coming from everything I’ve learned in my undergraduate days. On paper, we’ve learned about pyrolysis, burning in the absence of oxygen. But translating it into my final year project, I am actually doing these things. That’s the most interesting thing — seeing the real life outcome of what we’ve talked about in class.

Did you find your degree challenging at any point?

Yes. I had some job offers that were very amazing, that if I had taken them at that point, I would be “there”. One came in 200 level, another in 400 level. Aside from the challenges of the usual school work, the challenge was that I had to juggle work and school for the most part. That was my major challenge. And sadly, UI doesn’t give you room to work alongside school.

Can you talk about what you do – photography?

I am a cinematographer, not exactly a photographer. I do more videography than photography. But I call myself a cinematographer because I can pass as both. I take pictures. But the style of pictures I take, and the style of cinematography I do in general is documentary cinematography. I don’t do more of lifestyle and the likes. I like to tell stories. Curiosity makes me want to tell stories and so I do it with my cameras. I go to places, and see a way to tell their stories or the stories of the places I’ve been in a way that will help the viewers or audience see my perspectives. So, I do documentary cinematography. I am a drone pilot. I fly drones. And at some point, I dabbled into voiceover artistry. I still do sometimes when I have to work on some projects that require voice input.

How long and when did you start cinematography?

I started officially in 2020, but I had been having back-and-forths for the whole of 2019. In 2019, the idea of photography started occurring to me; that there’s a way one could take a picture from a certain angle or point of view that will tell a story. So, I started exploring. I explored with my phone at the time, one Infinix , I can’t really remember the feature, but it came with the pro feature on camera. It was the first time I encountered it. You could adjust the ISO, and the aperture.

I started with nature photography, snapping leaves and ants. In 2019, I used to go for this camp and there were like sub units that you can join to make your camping experience interesting, so I joined Camp Broadcasting Service (CBS) like a press organization on camp that reports stories on what happens on camp. But when I joined, I didn’t join the news section but the photography and videography. Since we were in camp, we could not do much, we only did what we could with our phones. I started going into videos and then I now discovered that there was a world where videos could tell actual stories. In pictures, you see emotions while in videos, you can see motions and emotions. In 2019, later that year in that same camp, my friend had a clothing brand, and we just decided to do a video for his brand and he loved it. That happened in August. I was still using my phone. After the camp, my friend had to pop up at an exhibition again and I just came to support him. While supporting him, I said let’s shoot another video and it made sense. One thing about me like I said is curiosity, curiosity pushed me to sit down with YouTube to learn because I didn’t attend any school of photography and cinematography, and that’s how I improved. There was this app that can be used to edit on a laptop. I had to get the app. On the first day of using the app, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just went outside, took my friend, who is now a Nollywood actor, to shoot a film. We used an iphone 6X at that point. We did the film anyhow we knew. We finished the film by 7’o clock, by 9’o clock, it was ready. The next day, I posted it. It was in 2020 it started properly. Then lockdown happened, which gave me time to feast on materials. When the lockdown suppressed a little when we could start seeing people, me and my friend started experimenting. We were going out to take pictures and videos. For the most part of 2020, I harnessed mobile photography and videography, then I started pushing for smart phone cinematography, that there’s more that your phone can do, but at the same time I was still learning how to use an actual camera.

During the learning process, did you ever get frustrated? Were your parents very open to it?

My parents did not even know that I was doing it, until during lockdown when I wanted to shoot another film and I told my dad that I needed one of the cars for logistics. He asked when I started doing all these, I explained to him that this is what I do and that I had even won an award. It was news to him. That was when he actually knew that that is what I do.

For frustration, yeah, because there are times when I go to shoot and what I thought in my head wasn’t coming out. The learning process too was frustrating and so was the editing process. When I first started, the laptop I was using was very slow and very old. If I did one thing, I had to wait for some minutes for it to reflect. For a while I couldn’t explore all those things I learnt.

When did you get your first camera?

It was in 2021.

How did you get your first camera and what was your reaction?

Well, it was a gift. While I was learning, I began to edit and stuff like that. I had a friend that also wanted to start editing, but he didn’t know how to go about it, so he texted me. I helped him put the editing software on his system. I told him the editing software was easy to navigate if he was ready to learn and that YouTube was the best to learn from. After that he moved to Lagos and started taking jobs and started growing. After he bought his third camera, he texted me if I wanted a camera and I said yes and that was how I got my first camera. When I got it, immediately I went to my family’s group chat to tell them I have a camera now, and they were happy.

One of my favorite authors, Susan Sontag, a critic and a photographer. She talked about the fact that with photography, videos and digital cameras you can re-examine perspectives and re-see things in new dimensions; how does that apply to you as a photographer?

As a photographer I think that it affects my everyday life. Subconsciously when I sit down I begin to see intricate details. It’s as simple as composition, how two things are happening concurrently, but there’s a way I’ve processed things in my head, how the picture of these two things happening can tell a story about that environment. So, I think that as a photographer or videographer, there are things you will need to see, that’s just basically the essence of story telling, because as you harness and you grow you will realize that as a documentary photographer, it’s not just by holding the camera and snapping something, the angle and the perspective matters. Images change based on what you see or how you perceive what you see.

If you were to tell a story on the series of protests that students have engaged in, how would you have gone about it?

If I was going to tell that story, like the last one at UCH. The fight was directed to UCH by students. From the pictures I took at UCH, I tried to put elements of UCH in the picture so that people will know that I did not just come to snap lifestyle but to show that people are angry towards a course. For the series of protests that have happened in UI, I would tell a video story of the protest. I would start with documentaries of students from 20, 30 years ago on their UI experience. If I had freedom, I’ll let the VC talk about his UI experience. So it’s a journey, you let people see what it used to be and then you show them how it has evolved and what we are now. Then I will take active motion from the protest ground, an active point of energy during the protest and when students are actually tired, moments like that speak volume.

That’s intriguing. Do you remember the first picture you took with your camera?

I can’t remember, but when I first got it I did some videos about a perspective of being tired during exams period but having to move on.

What is your style as a photographer?

The style of documentary I like to take is real life documentary, things that actually happened. I don’t take abstract, I don’t take art, I like to take the stories or documentaries of actual people. I might pass or sometimes take weddings but I don’t really like to do it. I like to do grassroot photography. By grassroot photography, I mean that I can go somewhere and through my photography, there is a message that can be passed across to people. Basically, I see the need for a picture that brings about correction and captures emotions of the people.

What are the different types of camera you have worked with?

For the A5 800 I had, I cannot remember the name, it wasn’t bad for a first camera but the sad part was that I got it when times started to evolve. That was when there was a switch from DXRL camera to Meredith. There was a new generation of cameras which were found in the A7s. Moving on, I began to work with A7s, A73s, A72s. I remember when I used to work with the A58 I had before, it was a big upgrade. I also remember that now working with the A7s they needed more laptop power, so I upgraded my laptop. There are new generations of cameras coming up now, the FXY, Cinemalines, which are quite heavy in videos that I need to upgrade my laptop to run them. My laptop has not been able to run an FXY, but it runs an A73 comfortably, so that’s my go-to for videos, while for pictures, the Canon EUXR, the R Series. That’s the camera most photographers now use. It has good features, you can explore on it and it gives hard quality images. If I had a favorite for photography, it would be the R Series, and for videography is the Sony A73.

I came across a line of argument some time ago that if you are doing photography or videography, it is majorly about having the photographic eye, and not necessarily about having a sophisticated device, what’s your opinion on this?

I think that as much as you want to prove that gadgets don’t matter, I think it is a fine blend of both. You can have the gadget and not have the photographic eyes, and you are just going to be taking regular pictures. But what makes gadgets not matter is that the people that have photographic eyes, when they need to take a picture and they don’t have set gadgets, they can use what they have to take the pictures that they want. They use what they have, not the most useless thing they have. You may not have the right gadget but when you know how to use it, it makes the difference. I have a friend, Nimi Adeyemo. He takes pictures with his phone and I dare say that sometimes he is better than some people who take pictures using a camera. Once you have the knowledge and you have the gadgets, it compliments it. So, gadgets matter.

What do you think about photography in UI?

Praise Isa: I stand to be corrected, but I think most of the photography in UI is fashion-based, people trying to build their brand, show their styling. I’ll say documentary photographers are very few in UI. I can mention some of them. We have Nimi Adeyemo, Samu, Bezaleel, Adefolarin Emmanuel and myself. Those are the people that share the same style of photography. We go out to tell stories of places and people. I’ll say that the UI community itself is not very receptive to creativity. I remember going to Awba dam to document something and the security told me to go seek permission before I come back, and all that. To thrive as a creative, you have to go the extra mile. Even the UI students themselves, it’s just in recent times that they are being receptive to creatives. I remembered one time when me and my friend wanted to do a one day street photography, it was difficult for us to get pictures of students. That’s like a major challenge.

What’s your creative process like?

Praise Isa: I don’t think I have a go-to process. Most of the time it’s nudging . The only part where that comes in is when I have a creative block. I mostly have creative blocks when I have started the project and somewhere in the middle of the project when I feel like I can’t do this again. What I do is to take a walk sometimes and sleep. But then again, the thing about sleeping is that you can be sleeping and then you dream and get what you’re supposed to do and you get up and continue the work. Sometimes I see friends, play basketball or something.

How has photography and videography changed or altered your mindset?

Praise Isa: One of the best things it has done to me is that I see things differently now, in the sense that when something happens in my everyday life, before I react, I first calm down to assess the situation. As a videographer, I think as someone who is creating and someone seeing the creation, I think from both perspectives. I envision everyday things, when I’m doing it I’m subconsciously thinking about what it will look like if I’m on the receiving end. I pay more attention to details of things. It has made me become better in communication and the way I perceive things.

Talking about perception, are there certain themes or motifs that you would like to explore in terms of documentary photography?

Praise Isa: I think that Africa is a beautiful place, I’ve seen photography and videography about it. But I think that as beautiful as Africa is, there are places that people don’t pay attention to. I want to do photography and help those places come to the limelight. For example, there are communities in certain places where their livelihood is not so great. I still want to explore “humanitarian photography” if there’s a thing like that. Just to go to those communities and feel at home. This is a community of people and we need to see what they pass through everyday.

If you were to do a documentary on students, what part of students life would you do?

Praise Isa: I think I’ll do a documentary on the exams in UI. I don’t think people understand the gravity of what we actually talk about. You can say it but if you don’t see it you don’t exactly understand. There’s something that comes with seeing. I mean you can have an idea but once you begin to see, it’s different. The exam season is a combination of different emotions, from the absence of electricity to the unprecedented hardship. And we have a school that does not exactly help you study well. Since I knew about UI, every exam season, something is going to happen that will throw you off balance. If it is not light , it’s water or something else.

How has been your collaboration with other photographers or videographers?

In partnership, I’ll say you will enjoy partnership more when it’s what you have interest in. For example, one of the worst sets of partnerships or collaborations that I’ve done is when I shoot for a wedding or when I shoot lifestyle or music related videos, it’s not my style. So if I collaborate with somebody that is doing that or an artist that works like that, it’s going to be draining for me, because I cannot properly interpret your music the way you want it. I’m always going to interpret it from the style of the story told by a documentarian. There’s a different type of vibe that comes with music videos that doesn’t sit well with me. But people like Nimi, Samu, Adefolarin, we have the same style of photography (documentary photography), so it’s easy because it is something that interests me, it’s easy to meddle in with them because our interests align.

Talking about projects you have done, what has been your most remarkable and your most disappointing?

Last year I had a couple of great projects, I had Lens for Good. Lens for Good is like an event specially for creatives to educate them on how to use the lens that they have for good. “Good” in the sense that maybe you search for Nigeria online, there are probably different things that you know that deep within yourself this is not all there is about Nigeria. I mean we all know that there are some things that are bad about Nigeria but we still have some good things like the festivals for example the Calabar Festival and other festivals. Good stories could also include the persecutions people are facing. Draw the attention of people to it. The most disappointing ones have been the weddings, I don’t think I like any.

What are your future aspirations?

Documentary, this time I want to go deep into documentaries. Like I said before I want to keep on documenting things and people’s stories but now I want to document somebody, I want to have a principal. For example, documenting governors or someone in the house of representatives or a CEO or an actual person, and I tell the story of that person.

What would you tell students who are going into photography and videography?

I would say that there’s never going to be an easy time to start. If you have started, you would know that even as you have started it’s still not easy. But if you know or have a nudging and you know that you have a purpose for which you want to start or to even make money, start it, whether photography or videography, because if you don’t start you will not have a story, and in coming years people will need your story to start, and your story is what is going to push another person to start. As much as I am a photographer and videographer, I am also a Christian. I believe that because of you there are people who will find their purpose and fulfillment. If photography or videography is really what you have been called to do, if you do not start, you are keeping a generation waiting and their gifts will not find expression until you find expression because they will need your story. So whenever you feel like you just like something, as long as it is not a bad thing, it’s good to know it. At some point, I used to like the idea of Forex, so I learned it just because I liked it. But I don’t trade it.