Tolani Alli, Adeleye,Others Ask Photographers To Look Beyond The Lens

Professional photographers have been advised to look beyond the lens in order to ensure that they stay relevant and maximize the endless opportunities available in the industry. The advice was given by different facilitators at the Smart-X ‘Beyond The Lens’ programme that was held at the Ibadan Business School last Wednesday.
Tolani Alli, the official photographer to the immediate past Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, while pointing out that photography is indeed a service industry, advised photographers to give exceptional services.
“Work hard, pray, yes, it is good to pray but remember that God will not help you if you don’t help yourself”, she said. She also spoke on self-development. While stressing the need for more education, she urged participants to go back to school and stay abreast of events around them. “What I don’t know, I go to the world to find out. As a photographer, you have to understand history and current affairs”, she pointed out.
Olumide Adeleye, the Rector of Twim Arts Institute, Ibadan, disclosed that while new simple digital cameras, apps and software are making the job of photographers easier, they are also exposing the industry to vulnerability which allows amateurs and pretenders to take huge bites of businesses from the professionals.
While taking time to expose participants to personality branding, Omolara Olaosebikan, the CEO, Pixel Digital Studios, discussed the necessity of branding at both personal and business levels. “Branding serves as the point of differentiation and channels of identity projection as individuals”, she noted.
Kayode Adebayo, the founder of AMFEST, a business promotional platform admonished photographers to pay attention to networking and intellectual development. He also mentioned collaboration as a sure means of achieving sustainable success in creative business.
Yemi Omitola, the convener of ‘Beyond The Lens’, encouraged photographers to monitor trends, especially the changes that are taking place in the different areas of photography.

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