pan-African caught up with the fantastically talented British-Nigerian photographer/videographer David Lawal, to talk about his work and what makes him tick.
How would you describe your brand of photography?
I am a videographer and photographer who makes content with soul! I try to evoke some form of emotion, a smile, a ponder or a tear with my work.
What initial idea led you to create your business?
It began with home movies and capturing special moments with my wife and little girl (they remain the profile picture of the business); other families wanted me to capture moments for them. The support from friends, family, members of the community was overwhelming, as well as online support from people who appreciated my work.
What’s unique about your company?
There are thousands of photographers and videographers out there, many with a far greater skill set than mine so I wouldn’t like to knock anyone else’s work; my next comment is subjective, of course, but I feel like my work is real, vulnerable and has soul. As I have grown as a man, a black man, a husband, brother, son, and now Dad, the lessons I have learned about communicating with people via different means. Making people comfortable to show their real selves to the world is a skill in itself I guess.
What have you found to be effective in terms of promoting your business?
As someone who is hired to make people, objects, services and places look good, the world feels like your play ground in terms of promoting your own content. But as I have become more successful my portfolio of clients and creations promotes my service better than any post, offer or story can.
What empowers you on a daily basis?
Meeting new people, creating and learning.
How did you adapt your photography business to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic situation?
I used this once-in-a-lifetime situation to capture ‘doorstep family portraits’ for people in the community so they could remember lockdown as ‘the good old days’ and not just for the negativity. Seeing families who have spent endless hours in the same four walls celebrate with smiles in these pictures was incredible. I managed to raise over £280 for Age UK to help out the elderly who were hit so badly by the pandemic.
What are you looking to achieve in the future to move your business forward?
I have so many aims and wishes, but one in particular is this: once the world opens up again, I look forward to traveling and telling stories of other cultures. My brother-in-law runs a Malawian coffee company in the UK to support the local community in his father’s village; this is an example of one of the places I want to go to tell their story.
What three pieces of advice would you give to aspiring photographers?
- Don’t concern yourself with this ‘fail’ culture. You need to get things wrong in order to learn.
- Know what your time is worth. Don’t ask others what they charge and copy that strategy, work out what an hour, half day or full day of your time is, consider equipment wear and tear, insurance etc and go from there.
- Allocate time to creative thinking. Try to find your own niche and run with it.
What do you love about your African roots?
Being mixed race, I see myself as having a very unique viewpoint of two contrasting cultures. Although in England I was ‘the black kid’, in Nigeria I was an oyinbo, I looked to the positives this brought, not the drawbacks. Now I feel experienced enough to give views of both White privilege and race issues, which don’t just come from a book or a news outlet.
Both my daughters, although light skinned, have Nigerian names. I engage in conversations about race and identity at every opportunity and I try my hardest to open the minds of those who simply have not had my experiences and so can’t be expected to fully understand without such conversations.
My most important work to date was a video I made about black dads to target stereotyping…
https://youtu.be/0gv2hY4Jd18
If you have a question about David’s services you can find him here.