Photos are someone’s window to the world.
For some people, photos are their only window to the world. And as a visual storyteller, it is my personal responsibility to tell stories through my lens with dignity. I am so grateful for the opportunity to travel as much as I do in order to tell stories that don’t often get told. Specifically, my time in Cameroon and the Central African region gives me an opportunity to show and attract attention through showing beauty, potential, and hope.
As a photographer, one ethic I adhere to fiercely is representing people and communities with dignity. What does this mean?
Perhaps you’ve seen an all too common picture: a starving child with flies next to her eyes.
I am not denying that this is unfortunately a reality. I’ve been working extensively with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and have seen and witnessed some of the most vulnerable people and situations that exist. However; I’ve personally, made it my mission to rather than showing the starvation and human disaster, focus on the stories that show hope.
An empowered individual who’s managed to get out of misery or whose life has been changed. A hero’s journey.
Often, a whole continent—in this case, Africa—with its many different cultures and realities, is so often condensed into just that one picture of the starving child. What about the creativity, the beauty, the designs, the cultures, and the many other attributes this rich continent has to offer and to show?
When you Google “Africa” results include the mention of AIDS, yellow fever, starvation, and violence. Some would argue that the news is the news—it’s going to be similar no matter what country you Google. However, I believe that the image that has been painted of Africa, in many heads around the world, people who might not have had the opportunity or curiosity to explore deeper, is mostly characterized by exactly those ‘negative’ images. I say this because many times when someone finds out I live and work in Africa, the reactions go from “poor you” to a sometimes fascinated, best-case scenario, “you’re so lucky to be surrounded by elephants and giraffes all day” and when I pull out my phone and show some pictures of the latest edition of the CCMC Yaounde fashion week that I am proudly the official photographer for the past four years, people can’t believe their eyes ‘wait, this is in AFRICA?’
From life-changing cleft lip surgeries to their annual Fashion Week to robotics competitions to the Mr. Cameroon pageant, the Cameroon I love and am familiar with has a lot of beauty, creativity, and potential. Ultimately I want to be part of changing the visual narrative.
When photographing, I work to adhere to the principle of representing people and communities with dignity. In doing so, you will never see a photo from me like what I described above of the starving child. As best I’m able, I work to avoid yet more disaster images that promote the one-sided narrative that up until very recently has mostly defined the visual narrative of an entire continent. To me, it’s important to challenge and ultimately change the frame so that those who use photos as their only window to the world come to see the African continent as I do—filled with promise.