Mamaj's Aviation Blog Travel News, Events, Trends, Jobs, Gossip and Inspiration
Meet cool, calm Olufemi Ilesanmi Osayogie a Cabin Crew formerly with Virgin Nigeria, Air Nigeria and discovery Air. Now an Enterprising Aviator.
Who is Olufemi Ilesanmi Osayogie?
“Olufemi Ilesanmi Osayogie is my name, and I’m a Lagos based wedding and lifestyle photographer. I have a passion for creativity, nature and people. My goal is to create pictures that will be a blessing to people’s lives for years to come and also help them to keep their cherished memories alive.
I use my work to tell stories about people and events….. about human behaviour and why they do the things they do. It addresses social and environmental issues of the areas concerned.
I am also a trainer and training facilitator at Lesafe’ Creations. I organise trainings and seminars for would be photographers/photographers.
Presently, I am the creative director/photographer at lesafe’media, a subsidiary of lesafe’ Creations. I live and work in Lagos. “
Who is Lesafe?
“Lesafe’ Creations is a professional wedding and event photography outfit in the heart of Lagos. We do weddings, Portrait shoots, product and corporate photography, Branding and advertising, travels, events and documentary. Should you need someone to help keep memories of your event alive, don’t hesitate to contact us. We don’t compromise on quality… we ensure you get the best at the lowest possible price.
At lesafe’ Creations, our customers is our priority.”
When did you discover your interest in photography?
“It all started as a hobby whilst still in secondary school. I am a creative person, and as such have a passion for anything art. Photography as we know is an art which speaks millions of words.
A cousin of mine sent a point and shoot camera to us from Europe to do some family shoot. I personally handled it, and the outcome was amazing. “This was in my SS3 days”. I annexed the camera and felt I could do some adventure with it. I started taking it to school (Edo College, Benin), shooting anything shootable… Little did I know I was helping to keep some cherished memories of our school and colleagues and at the same time, developing an inborn talent.
I would gather classmates, teachers and our principal for a snap, print the pictures and give to them, all at my expense… this I did just for the fun of it and not for any monetary gain. I later started collecting NGN 5.00 each from them being cost of production as I couldn’t foot the bill anymore. For the rest of my ss3 days, I was sure of having transport home from school.
I came to Lagos after my S. S. C. E to raise some money in order to further my education… I got a job in a biz centre as a sales rep… but that was short-lived as the minister of communications then (Mr Olanrewaju) stopped the operations of business centres, claiming they’re a haven for fraudstars (419), and they in turn introduced phonebooths which also didn’t see the light of day.
Still thinking of how to raise funds, I started doing neighbourhood photography with my point and shoot camera. This was in 1996…. I eventually entered school photography in 1997… courtesy of a friend I met in the lab who said we could be partners. We went into a partnership agreement, which eventually became a turning point for me. Though the partnership wasn’t sustainable as we had to breakup at some point…
School photography eventually generated me the required resources to further my education…. I grew from having one camera to six professional cameras… (they were all analog though). At the end of my third year in the University, something happened. The school authority decided they didn’t want any vendor operating on campus, as such, the whole shops on campus was demolished while we were on holidays… all my gears went with the destruction save the one I took home for the holidays should I have some neighbourhood job to do.
That experience eventually killed the spirit in me. Rather than be totally downcast, I felt it must have been a Divine plan by God to make me concentrate more on my studies as it happens to be my last year in school… with that, I became more focussed with little or no distraction.
I went for NYSC after graduation and got a job almost immediately after NYSC to work as a Cabin Crew with then Virgin Nigeria… that I did till the airline went under.
During the final phase of the airline going under, something awoken that passion in me, and I decided to invest in some gears…. first, I bought an old Canon Eos rebel XT camera from a colleague, Philip Anjorin. That was my very first digital SLR as I was used to the film analogue type. I also invested in a new HD Panasonic Professional Video Camera and later, better DSLR Cameras and lenses.
I started by shooting colleagues in uniform and posting same on fb.
The first wedding job I got was from a fellow colleague, Joseph Babalola…. I handled both the video and photography.
I did the Video while I got someone i had trained to do the shoot for me.
Joseph Babalola was such a remarkable client. Even though the video recording had a little hitch, he still got me some good referrals. From then onwards, it has always gotten better. I do a lot of online studies, attend seminars and trainings just to improve myself.”
Do you enjoy what you do?
“Yes I do…. it’s my passion and life. It’s something I’d ordinarily love to do for free… I love to see the beauty of my work, and feel elated when it is appreciated.”
Do you miss flying?
“In a way I do…. flying also came to be a part of me…. it gave me some form of inspiration doing what I do. There’s no better scenery than a view from the sky… I’ve got so many of such views in my archive. In fact, on one of my flight from Abuja as a crew, I saw a photographer on board…. I relocated him to a seat where he could get the best landing view at sunset…. that eventually became the photographer’s best sunset shot ever. Flying gives greater opportunities as nature photographer but less time.”
What Challenges in professional photography?
“There’s no profession without its challenges… Photography is an expensive art. Everything about it is expensive…. Most clients don’t know this… and even if they do, they pretend not to know. It’s typical with Nigerians to want things for free… and the truth is free stuffs are never appreciated.
Just imagine someone investing so much in gears and at the end of the day, even your most trusted person refusing to pay for a job done… not minding you’d have spent so much money on logistics, time and equipment.
We still have less people appreciating photography as an art in Nigeria. Most people still don’t know the benefits of keeping cherished memories, and the price you pay for losing such memories”
How do you combine photography and cinematography?
“Depending on the client and budget.. I have professional cinematographers that handle all video jobs for me under my direction.. they know how I want it and everything synchronises.”
How come you started Professional Photography late?
“i stopped @my final year in school because of the demolition of my school office.. that brought a setback and left a vacuum for almost 10years. And as a Crew, i was so comfortable with flying that I never thought an additional stream of income could come from phtotography. I would say I realised too late as I would have had the opportunity of investing better while still flying. It’s all part of experience that we all learn from.”
Where do you see yourself in the nearest future ?
“I want to see myself as someone who must have touched lives and added value to mankind.
I see myself being very successful in the art of photography, and also, building a platform where young entrepreneurs can learn and develop their photography talents. “
Lovely pictures aint they?
In these harsh economic times, coupled with the instability in the aviation industry in nigeria, the need for aviators to explore additional streams of income can not be over emphasized. One thing remains constant: There is always a starting point.
I guess is time we all to do a self reality check. What is that talent, skills or hobbies you possess?. What are you passionate about? Time to harness them. You never can tell what tomorrow holds..It is never too late. Olufemi did and today he is happier.
See his contact details below:
Phone: 08098lesafe, (08098537233), 08056280342, 08133308866
Web: www.lesafecreations. com
BBM;: 569DCEC4
Instagram: #lesafecreations
Twitter: @lesafecreations
@olufemiosayogie
FB Page: www. facebook.com/lesafecreations
Blog: www.lesafe. shutterchance.com
Let Lesafe help keep your memories alive….
