Michael Oshai
Michael Oshai is a self-taught photographer and creative whose transition into photography was a risk worth taking. Mike credits his art to his voice, which he uses to communicate with courage and conviction. In his twenties, and a graduate with a bachelor of law degree, Mike aims to challenge unrealistic expectations and celebrate ‘the Man for who he is’ through his photography. His work also aims to draw attention to mental health and the consciousness of man. He believes there is power in being vulnerable, and states “it is where we are our most authentic selves, at our most passionate and most vulnerable”.
Michael
Oshai
Interviewed by: THOMASINA R. LEGEND
Photography: EDVINAS BRUZAS
I love the fact that in your bio you say your art is your voice. Can you share how important that is to you and what you mean to people who don’t get it? The legendary Nina Simone’s famous quote which states, “the duty of an artist is to reflect the times” is one which has inspired a better part of my process especially when I started my journey into photography, because it later on became important for me to define my art with meaning, and essentially, have something to say beyond just taking pretty pictures. It is salient especially knowing who I am, and where I come from along with the legacy I would love to leave behind to tell relevant and impactful stories because going back to the quote, it’s my duty as an artist to depict the times as well as being a source of inspiration to a generation that needs it in these turbulent periods as we witness them unfold right before us. Using my creative voice as a channel to spotlight issues that affect us as a society through my photography goes a long way to reach people far and wide. It takes for my voice to be heard through what I put out for it to resonate, hence why my voice is my art.
Tell me a bit about yourself and what you did career wise prior to becoming a photographer? I am the first boy and second born in my family and studied Law at university thinking my life was going to be like Olivia Pope, Scandal and all that drama but far from it (Laughing hard). The first two years were a breeze, but the third year is where you get to the nitty-gritty of the law, and that’s when I realised it wasn’t for me and couldn’t see myself doing law long term. After graduating with a degree in law, and failing the exams to get into law school the second time, I knew it was time to look elsewhere career wise. Before pursuing photography full time, I interned for Elizabeth, who is the founder of Beth Models. Working with Beth Models was amazing which kind of took me back to the memories of America’s Next Top Model which I absolutely loved watching and couldn’t get enough of because obviously the talent and calibre of photographers that featured and the amazing images shown at the end of the show inspired me greatly.
What inspired your transition into photography full time and Why photography as a medium of communication? How my photography journey started is kind of a funny story because I just really wanted a cool Instagram page (laughing). Wanting a dope Instagram page but not knowing how to achieve it pushed me to YouTube, where I watched simple editing videos on how to edit images on your phone and put what I learnt to practice. It wasn’t meant to be that serious or big of a deal but ended up exploding into this really cool reality I am living now. I give credit to my dear friends who trusted me enough to shoot them on my phone when they started seeing the type of images I was experimenting with and putting out. I remember my first job was with my friend who paid me to shoot him on my phone, which was an iPhone. When he got the final edits and posted them online, it went viral and people started following me. Around the same time I also shot a friend’s collection which had the same viral effect, and It felt great honestly because I am self-taught, I didn't go to school for this and even though the journey hasn’t been easy, I didn’t give up but kept on going. At the time it was all new to me and I felt like I was in over my head. This was all happening around the time I had failed at my second attempt for law school. After those viral moments, opportunities sprang up, and it was literally like a domino effect in the sense that as I do one work or project, people would come to me based on the last project I did, and it spiraled from there.
Why photography? Photography because I didn’t want to go to law school anymore after the long hard journey I had been on with all that, but that’s not to say I didn’t learn anything through that challenging time and those lessons taught me a lot which I carry with me as I progress, and essentially has helped me feel a lot more rooted and grounded. It has not always been this way and I always like to credit Tokyo James for the progress I have made in a short span of time because he made me see this as a business and pressed that if I really wanted to commit to photography, I had to come into it with the mindset of wanting to be the best in the world, stressing that money shouldn’t be a motivator but rather growth. I am proud to say that those vital lessons I learnt working closely with Tokyo James. One of the very first photo shoots I did with Tokyo was one with the model in the water, and that went viral. At this point, the repetitive viral photos felt great and helped boost my confidence, but I needed to figure out how to keep that going. After careful reflection, I realised that all the images that went viral were images I captured and edited on my phone. I used to be sort of embarrassed to admit that I edited my images on my phone. Editing on your phone is like a declaration that you're not good enough in the creative space where I come from but with all the new editing apps that are available it's not only easier and faster, it gives you an opportunity to experiment which I have used to my advantage and has equipped me with a style and signature that sets me apart from others. The embarrassment I used to feel about editing on my phone soon evaporated because I quickly came to the realisation that, working with my phone, was a part of what made me different and people have and still book me to date. My phone has been a great creative asset and am proud of the work I have been able to create from it.
You have done some seriously amazing work and I am curious to know where you get your ideas and inspiration from to do what you do? I will start with my personal work, to which I always love to just dig deep within myself and that’s where my voice come into play a lot.
It’s also very hard because you’re being your authentic self which is also a very vulnerable phase to tap into but to be authentic you have to dig deep and create from a place of truth, your truth.
If people receive it well, then that’s great and if they don’t, that shouldn’t be a deterrent to how you tell your story. Yeah, I would love to sit here and say I don’t care about what people say about my work, but that’s not the case. I am very, very sensitive about my work. You can talk trash about me, do or say whatever you want about me but when it comes to my work, it's like a child that I nurture so of course I would take criticism hard but not let it destroy my creative process.
When it comes to client work, some come to me with a mood board and sometimes with a reference. I tell them from the jump that I am not here to plagiarise. If they need someone they would love to just follow their mood boards or references to the tee, then they need to go else where. I prefer working with people who are inspired by my work but happy for me to make it my own, and that opens doors to creativity as well as a common ground to meet in the middle. But a lot of the time I prefer when clients come to me and say Mikey we love your work, create something and let's go. That gives me room to create again from a place of authenticity and originality.
What do you love about what you do? I love the fact that you can create a whole niche for yourself and thrive in it. I love the creative atmosphere anywhere I find myself in the world because creative people just know how to make things happen, and that energy is powerful and infectious. Furthermore, I love having a blank canvas and being able to tell a story from a unique point of view. Being able to travel has opened me up to a different world of creativity, collaboration, and I must admit these are privileges I don't take for granted. Travelling has been a great source for learning and connecting with creative people from all works of life and having to appreciate every individual's unique experience, knowledge, skills, talent and creativity. I intend to do my part, no matter how small to implement the things I have learnt on my journeys whenever I am home in Nigeria. It's important that those that get a chance to learn these things, be the ones to open the doors for others as well. There are so many talented artists and creative individuals in Lagos, and we need to support and grow our networks.
How would you describe your signature or style now you have defined it for yourself? I wouldn’t call it a signature, per se. I have just identified what I do differently and how I tell my stories, which are all elements that are important to me now that I am aware of the things that set me apart. It took me a minute to figure these aspects of myself and my work-out but when you are working with intentionality, you have to stop and reflect by blocking out the surrounding noise which I had to do because the creative world is very loud and at times can have you spinning and questioning yourself, which is detrimental to not only your success but your mental health. Taking notes on the things that made me stand out took time, but it became clearer as I prioritised storytelling and one of the first is that I realised I was drawn to shooting male models a lot more. It's probably because I am experienced with how we are as men, our angles and all that. The second for me are the stories I choose to tell focus more on where I am coming from (Lagos, Nigeria) and how I want to use my platform to change the narrative because there are still a lot of stereotypes and negativity around the topic of male femininity. Not everything has to be taboo. I did a shoot with a guy who was very masculine, gave him some pearls, painted his nails and this is nothing new over here in the West but the audacity to do that at home as you know is daring, bold or whatever you want to call it. When you think about it, I am not doing anything new because these things already exist but because it’s such taboo where I am from, there’s uproar. I want my voice to be heard through everything I do and create. Am just putting my creativity and spin on it and making it my own and to me that’s more of my style or signature if you want to call it that. Saying signature feels restricting to me, so I try to not box myself in as much because things can change tomorrow and the directions I choose to take can navigate me away from what I say today to be a signature.
Let’s discuss the motivation that enables us as creative people to keep going. What’s that for you? In this journey, I believe we have to find motivating factors constantly. You don’t start with one and keep at that one. It’s limiting to creativity. The things that motivated me when I started on this journey were great then and served me well, but I have evolved from that and with that evolution comes new room to grow and that propels you to go deeper. As I have grown and keep developing on this path I am on, I have needed to find another reason, something a bit deeper with essence to create projects and visuals that have a lot of meaningful impact. With the dawn and wake of the pandemic and lockdown, I got to have that time to reflect and came up with this rationale to tap into the idea of how fashion designers create collections and drop a body of work at least once a year but in my case, that would be more of a personal project. For me, I believe your personal work is often always your best work, so I would love to tap into that and drop a body of work at least once a year that's more of a personal project that tells a story that means a lot to me, especially with the times we are in. There are so many narratives I would love to explore and express through photography. There is so much to say, so much to shed light on and with that thought process, I was able to work on my first fashion film in December 2020 called City Girls which I released this year in March. The Covid lockdown period inspired me further to explore other mediums of telling my stories. After watching the Hanifa fashion show where they used digital A&R got me thinking that if I don't study this game, I'm going to be left behind. As a creative, no one wants to wake up and become irrelevant within their own industry. Hanifa's presentation showed how jobs were taken away from the photographer, videographer, models, stylists, makeup, hair stylists and other creative talents that work hard to put together a whole fashion show. It’s a scary thought. If you ignore the fact that virtual reality and AR are slowly becoming a thing, and you don't figure out a way to work these areas, have a skill set within these tech spaces, so your job role is not completely erased, then you are creating a huge challenge for yourself. The pandemic has shown us what the human mind is capable of creating and producing. It’s basically just shown us the future, and it’s really not far off. I also want to do so much more than just photography. I have bigger dreams and vision other than just telling my stories through one medium. That in itself is a huge motivator for me as a creative because it pushes me out of my comfort zones to learn, research and practice.
You have said that your work aims to draw attention to mental health and the consciousness of man, wanting to highlight that there is power in vulnerability especially for men. Why is this so important for you? I had a horrible breakup in 2017 and that was like my first time experiencing I would say depression. I was able to get myself out of it but when I tried to be there for someone who was going through a similar situation, I came with the same methods I thought I had used to overcome my own challenges, which didn’t work. Furthermore, I thought I had been able to overcome my own challenges and struggles with depression and was expecting them to just snap out of it.
Everybody is different, we all go through life differently, and you will be doing yourself a disservice expecting everyone to be like you or behave the same way. What works for one won’t necessarily work for another, and it’s finding the various ways we can be able to help one another that is also important to me. So in creating narratives that bring attention to the issues around mental health issues and challenges, we can bring more awareness to the topic.
If at least we have more people talking about it, it will soften up the taboo or the stigma surrounding the topics of mental health. I am not ashamed to ever admit that I went through depression and there is this thing as well that has been imposed upon us African men which is that ideology and mentality of continuous show of strength or never being able to show any kind of emotion even when you are alone. We are not allowed space for any of that and honestly that’s a lot of weight to carry every single day. I believe the more people come out, admit and say hey I go through this as well, you're not alone, someone out there will be touched by this admittance. Seeing and hearing someone else makes you feel less crazy. Hearing another photographer or creative person talk about his or her challenges and struggles helps you identify with what they’re going through and sometimes even put a name to it. Other people's stories, how they survived, can help others tap into their inner strength and fight to overcome.
That's what I want my work to really celebrate, our individual inner strength and abilities to overcome.
In your views, can you highlight some of the unrealistic expectations heavily placed on men especially men of African descent and how you try to challenge them through photography? So like I just mentioned earlier, one of the unrealistic expectations is not expecting men to have emotions as crazy as that sounds, but we all have beating hearts, and we are all human beings. I believe it's not just men that put pressure on men, but women have been known to tow those lines as well. For instance, some responses or comments from women expressing their disapproval from a man’s image or video of them showing any form of emotion like maybe crying is just despicable. It's a societal issue where both men and women are a huge part of the problem because again they have been fed this stereotype, and now it's hard to erase. Some things are as silly as you can't wear pink or any shade that comes close to pink. You can't paint your nails, or you must only dress the way that society has dictated that you dress. I like to function as my full authentic self and that includes me wanting to be myself, wear what I want and no I wasn't born that way, it took me a minute to fully grow into this person. To not care what people think, to do what makes me happy regardless of what society believes. When you truly answer to yourself, and you don't live your life for the glorification of others, you will be happy. It's a burden to spend your life trying to adapt to what people are saying. Trying to fit into people's ideas of whom you should be, how you should look and carry yourself is like jumping on every damn trend there is, forgetting that a trend will change. That’s a burden. It’s toxic and detrimental to our entire being. Be you, Love yourself and be yourself no matter what. Not everyone will like you, and that’s fine. Not everyone is supposed to, anyway.
So you just mentioned authenticity and I would like to know how important and valuable the term authenticity is to you and how do you try to be authentic through your art? There are a lot of smoke and mirrors in this industry. I made some promises to myself from the jump before my photography got to where it is now, telling myself that there are some things I will never do or compromise. I still stand on those promises till date, and it’s a lifetime pact to myself. Not only that, but I make sure that however I meet people, regardless of who they are within the industry, I am my authentic self. Likewise, I don't believe in people pleasing, I don’t believe in kissing ass. Authenticity is key and very important to me. I believe what has my name, and this is something my mom always tells me from the jump that whatever has your name in this life, has your name on it and no one can take it from you. They can try, and might even succeed in delaying things, but what’s for you will always make its way to you. So really and truly, with that in mind, I don’t need to fake being someone I am not or kiss anyone’s butt to get ahead.
I am also very observant, and I strongly believe in the saying surround yourself with people who want you to win and clap for you when you’re winning, and honestly that’s what I do. I have a strong, formidable circle of trusted friends I call family and I love to build my plans with my friends. Not only that, but I am truly grateful and blessed to be surrounded by super talented creative individuals as friends who do many things, are thriving, and we are all in our individual fields killing it. One of the most profound aspects of our friendship and circle is that we sow into each other. We are fully invested in making sure that we all thrive. I sow into them and they sow into me. Once I notice someone who doesn't align with the same values, mottos and the things I do, we can't move forward. To make it in this industry is not for the faint-hearted or the weak. You have to have thick skin and values that you will never compromise on. Character is everything. The right people are watching, even when you think they’re not. If you’re fully committed to being in this industry, make sure you don’t lose yourself and fully function in your authentic self. Define what that means to you and for you, and walk in that.
What Joy do you derive from the art of photography and how does this translate through what you do? Listen, this craft is beautiful and there is so much about it that can be life altering and bring blessings. I love that.
Being able to use my creative voice to contribute to this creative space and industry is one of the best moments and feelings ever. Getting your art and work accepted as well is a bonus and an added blessing that can never be taken for granted. Being able to create and tell meaningful stories is beyond joyful. Bringing ideas to life that at one point were just pure imagination is an indescribable feeling.
So yeah I get a lot of joy doing what I do, and I find extreme happiness in being able to create. When I am excited about a photo shoot, I am editing it immediately that's when you know it was absolutely brilliant for me but if I finish a shoot and I don't touch or go back to it immediately, you know I am not that into it but once I finish, and I am itching to work on it then you know something magical happened and for me those moments are priceless, and It's one of the best feelings ever.
As a self taught photographer, what are some of the things you wish you knew before embarking on this journey? I wish I had confidence and believed in my work from the jump because the lack of confidence in your art, your work, what you do definitely impacts how you value in cost and shows in how much you charge. But I have come to learn and understand that confidence can’t be taught by someone else. You become confident in yourself as you grow, and confidence also comes with experience. When I first started I won't even lie I worked a lot for nothing convincing myself that I was doing it for the exposure. Now I am able to flex in a different type of way because I believe in what I do, believe in myself and have confidence that can’t be taken away from me because I know what I bring to the table, but that didn’t happen overnight, it took experience so be patient with yourself.
Another thing I wish I knew was not just taking all jobs because even though I wanted the experience, exposure and be able to financially take care of myself, there are some jobs that I wish I had the confidence to walk away from. Now with experience I know not to accept just anything. I always ask myself before I take on any opportunity; would this give me room to explore and expand on what I already know, would this job open doors for me, would it break new bounds, is it something I have ever done before, can it give me the creative freedom to be expressive? Most times, if I am not able to answer positively half of these questions, I turn the job down. Money isn’t always a motivator, growth is for me.
I remember when I started, the admin aspects of this role used to be overwhelming and one of the things a friend taught me was that even if you don't have an agency that represents you yet, create your own virtual admin that feels like an agency, so you're not actually the one responding, but you're the one. It’s a lot more professional, people don’t take advantage of you, and you are able to present your cost sheet in a way people don’t argue about when they’re talking to an imaginary person they don’t know. When it comes to negotiating your worth as a creative, it's a mind-boggling thing that can mess you up mentally, emotionally and physically. From the get go, have a fixed rate that you know you won't go below and will cover not only your working costs but your living costs. Trust me, it’s been a journey of learning and the learning doesn’t stop. You keep learning and evolving. That’s just life.
What has the journey been like on your mental, emotional and physical health? Such a great question because mental health is so important to me. This journey is such a turbulent one that it definitely affects you mentally and emotionally one way or the other. I have had my fair share of challenges when it comes to the mental aspect of this journey, but right now I would say I am about 75% ok. I have been working on every aspect of my mental well-being because I have created boundaries that enable me to protect my space, and my mind. I work accordingly to my own set of guidelines and don't do or agree to anything because anyone just wants me to. I feel great, I feel like everything is good, and I am living for now. It's important for us to be in the moment. I just want to do great work and at the same time work on making sure that nothing messes with my mental and emotional well-being. I prioritise my mental health at all times.
What would you say are some of the most profound challenges or struggles either mental, emotional or physical you have faced on your journey so far? At the time I started, one of the biggest things that bugged me was the fact that I didn’t have a professional camera. Things I shouldn’t really have let bother me at all but again this journey, this industry will make you fret about things you shouldn’t be fretting over and that’s because you’re focusing on someone else’s journey and how they have accomplished the things they have, so you think that’s how it should go for you too, but that’s wrong, and I learnt that the hard way by stressing unnecessarily. Fretting about needing a professional camera to shoot bugged me the hell out. I had my phone and I had a small tiny camera I had bought years before because once upon a time I actually thought about being a YouTuber (laughing) but that camera was not professional enough to capture the standard of images I thought I required so to achieve getting a professional camera, I started insisting on a deposit being paid which I then used to rent a professional camera when I desperately needed one but again that was a self-imposed worry because at the time I didn’t realise my phone was one of my greatest assets as that’s what I used to achieve the images that went viral, but worrying about what people would say about not having a professional camera led me down the path of worry and stress for no reason.
Another challenge was around the topics of charging and pricing. I am an extrovert and so come across as everyone’s friend, if that makes sense. I found myself completely overworked and underpaid because I was agreeing to do everyone’s shoot, and most for absolutely no cost. My mindset was that I was laying down my roots, creating that portfolio and I thought ok I am sowing these seeds now and paying my dues. Good work is good work, and you need to realise your worth sooner rather than later. I am still working through a few issues especially when it comes to pricing and charging, but now I have a management team that take care of all that. It's such a weight off my shoulders to say to clients no matter who they are, strangers or friends that speak to my team. In this industry, people are users and just take and take from you. If you are of no value to someone they will drop you faster than you can say Jack, so now I don't take it personally. Before, I feel like I was so open and accessible and ready for whatever that people abused the access. You have to first and foremost have superb people around you at all times. It's very important. Yes it takes time to not take these things personally because as you get into the industry you have to study both your surroundings and the people that come with it then act accordingly.
I also struggled with the worst case of imposter syndrome at the beginning of the journey. I didn’t believe how good my work actually was and is. Not only that, but I struggled with compliments from both friends and strangers. It took a while for me to truly believe that their complements were genuine.
Also, as a photographer I believe there’s a little window of anxiety that we all go through after a shoot and that window I make mention of is just after the shoot, you edit and send to the client, that window between the sent and their first response. That space of time till date is still a moment of great anxiety because you don’t know if they like the job or not and their response could go either way. I have only had one not so great response from a client ever, but even that wasn't as bad as I feared. You will have difficult clients, everybody gets them, and I remember when I first started I didn't really have as much anxiety. But you have to learn from every challenge so you move forward.
I am also my toughest critic, and I am never really satisfied with the work I do. I shot a Fashion film in December 2020, and I really didn’t want to release it, but finally had to in March this year. It’s good to critique your work but over doing it can be dangerous and limiting for you as a creative because you are afraid to put anything out, and you feel it’s not perfect enough, or you feel there are more things that could be fixed or edited but sometimes those things we think are wrong end up being the best aspects of our work.
What was lockdown like for you as a creative person? What did you do during the time and how did that help you mentally, emotionally and physically or even spiritually? Oh my goodness, I almost quit photography during lockdown. I had a full on crisis, and it was hard all round mentally, emotionally, and physically. I was loosing jobs and I feel like money in your pocket is the best antidepressant, so when all your money is going out with no hope of how to make it back, it’s heartbreaking to say the least. Adulting was hard, but the reality of lockdown for a lot of people where I am from was harder. I remember just before lockdown, I was overworking myself because a lot of people needed to get their images online, so I was shooting the same thing every week which became monotonous and a tad boring for me. It made me feel like a machine, and I started questioning what the hell I was doing. So when lockdown came around, I didn't touch my camera for like two months because I didn’t have that spark within me, almost packed it all in and nearly quit photography. During that period, I thought hard about going back to law school just to have a backup plan in case this whole photography gig didn’t work out, but I reflected on the moment and decided to keep going. It was a humbling moment and period of my life which made me see life differently, especially in a pandemic. I am always grateful when life humbles me and teaches me things. I channel it into my work. So yes, Covid almost made me quit my photography career because a lot of the goals I wanted to achieve didn't seem possible. But now that outside is open again, I am getting to set new goals and achieve things, to which I am glad and grateful that I didn’t give up photography.
As a creative, talk to us about the low moments of the journey. How have you navigated those days and nights to come out on top? The low moments come for sure on the journey, but I am well-equipped now with my mechanisms that get me through, one of which is my ultimate love for Beyoncé, and she is one of my biggest motivations since I've been a child. I use her as the standard for work ethics and everything. The ‘what would Beyoncé do’ tagline has been created to question how I think she would handle tough issues and situations, and it helps me visualise and act accordingly. Also, in my life whenever things happen I rely on my tribe who are a close-set of friends that I know I can always call to seek council.
Talking to my mom is like when Popeye eats the spinach, that's the best analogy I can give you for that. I always tap into that strength, and it might sound a type of way to others, but I don't care. She is also one of my biggest inspirations because I have seen her do life, take on some of the toughest situations, the curveballs that she has had to face, and I remind myself when going through tough times and extremely low moments that I’m my mothers' son. She has survived worse and come out on top and so can I.
Finally legacy. When I think of the kind of legacy I want to leave behind, I am pushed to get back up. Low moments will happen on this journey, and you can't truly achieve great things by being stuck in the low moments. Have your moments but get back up and keep going because to be able to leave a legacy that is impacting requires you to get out of your own way.
What’s your relationship with your parents now especially with the success of your work? When I was repeating law school, my dad ceased my camera because he desperately needed me to focus on that path. For Nigerian parents who don’t know much about the creative environment and how you can make it, it can be scary for them when their child decides to pursue a creative career path that they know absolutely nothing about. In a country like Nigeria, trust me they are very terrified because of poverty and struggling all in the name of you are following your passion but from the jump I had to really let them understand that this is what I wanted to do and in time they have come to understand and support my decision and journey. They are not as worried, and I really get it. They now even refer me to their friends and lots of people they know for me to shoot and trust me that's brought great connections my way and of course financially it's also a plus.
Who would you say inspires you on your creative journey and why? When I first started this journey, I was just shooting for shooting’ sake like I made mention at the beginning but when I got intentional, I had to research the works of some greats and learn what they focused on and how they did things and one of the photographers that I have a lot of respect and admiration for is Nick Knight. When I shot my fashion film and finally released it earlier this year, he liked it and reposted it. That was like a tick for me. I am also a huge fan of a lot of Black photographers like Campbell Addy, Tyler Mitchell, Kennedy and others. I have a lot of respect and admiration for all these amazing talents doing phenomenal work and shattering glass ceilings. It's inspiring and shows how doors are opening within certain spaces, that's great to see.
What kind of lessons would you say you have learnt on this journey that you would like others to know? I am still learning to be fair and honest, but I have learnt to stop doubting myself and not to compare myself to anyone. Knowing what you're charging for, knowing your worth and charging accordingly are just a few of the lessons I've learned over the past year.
I am grateful to be surrounded by people who are really genuine, open and honest. It's important to know what others are charging not, so you compete but so you don't under charge and undervalue yourself. I had no idea how much I was going to charge for a look book shoot and a virtual film, but by reaching out to fellow photographers, I was able to come away with insight that helped me greatly. I have been able to create great relationships with fellow photographers both in Nigeria and other countries. There is no pretentiousness, no hate, just pure openness and wanting to see ourselves win. I even refer jobs that I am unable to do maybe because I have a lot going on to a few and I tell them how much I would charge for the job.
I hate that there's this secrecy thing within the industry. There's a saying that when you make it out of where you were stuck, leave the door open, so others can follow. We have to give back in whatever way or capacity that we can. No matter how little. I am never jealous of what others are doing, I focus on me and where my vision is taking me. If the clients want me, they want me and no one else but me can give them the Michael Oshai experience. Life is too short, and I have too much I want to achieve and fulfil to be dragging anything with anyone.
I am never jealous of what others are doing, I focus on me and where my vision is taking me, and I am not one to be afraid of oh if I help someone they will sabotage me and take my clients, I really don’t have time for that because if the clients want me they want me, and they want the Michael Oshai experience and no one else but me can give them that. I always carry my mom's words with me which states ‘what's for me will always be for me’ and no one can take it or stop it.
You have to believe, or else you leave yourself open to negativity and unnecessary challenges. Life is too short, and I have too much I want to achieve and fulfill with my life.
What changes would you like to see happen where photography is concerned? Nigeria and the African continent are getting the shine that it rightly deserves in music, fashion and film. I would like it to shift to photography and other arts as well. There are lots and lots of incredibly talented artists coming through. It will be great for their work to be highlighted and get that needed spotlight and recognition.
What advice would you give anyone interested in pursuing a creative career? I would say go after what you set your sights on and do it because you like it. Study your craft because this journey, being creative, becoming a part of the industry is not for the faint-hearted. It will chew you up, spit you out, and you won't recognise yourself. Let your work be your voice and let it speak for itself. Create meaningful relationships and connections as you grow within the industry. Also learn the ethics of business, know how to pitch yourself and know how to network.
Hard work and consistency should be an embedded part of who you are. These are more or less the two recipes for success. No shortcuts. The job is hard, the journey is not easy but keep going, keep perfecting your craft and be consistent. Whatever has your name on it has your name on it and nobody can take it away from you, so you don’t need to kiss anybody’s ass, you don’t need to pander to anyone, don’t people please and all that. What is for you will always be for you. End of story. And finally, never be afraid and when you do, feel the fear and do it anyway.
