An Afternoon with Feven

My creativity in post titles has gone to the dogs these days. Sigh. What’s good people? First off, due to many many many instances of theft, I’m trying out a new watermark on my images. Do tell me what you think about it on the comments section.

Now, I had the absolute honor of shooting with Feven yesterday afternoon. Needless to say, I was in shock and awe the whole time because she was so easy to work with and the images were so great one after the other. Below is a montage of my favorite 2 images of them all.

montage

But enough talk now. Enjoy gallery 😀

So I Shot a Girl…

And she was pretty! Her name is Wofa and she was introduced to me by Le Photo Ninja. SO, allow me to prove that she’s quite the beauty.

Since our favorite thing to do as we shoot is to take photos of each other, I’ve thrown in some photos of Le Photo Ninja herself and her cohorts 😀

P.S

If you think these are anything, you should see what she got on her camera. It’s for blowing minds and things 🙂

Person(s) of the Day – Twaila and Sara

Allow me to introduce you to Twaila .

She works in the Insurance industry.

She was the 200th like(r) on my Facebook page  and for that she won a shoot with me 😀

As usual. I asked her what 3 things the world doesn’t know about her. The answers were:

1. She is totally shy around people she doesn’t know.
2. She didn’t have hair when I was a child, it was not funny.
3. She is terrible at answering questions. Like now (Reumac claps in glee as he types the sentence).

Her aspirations for the next 10 years are to be married with little ones running around the house. And having fun with life.

And as a treat, allow me to introduce you to Sara a.k.a Murugi Kagotho.

She is a student by proffession..and a future scientist/teacher

Her 3 things are:

1. (In her words)  I am very very animals-ey. I love creepy
crawlies and mean looking dogs/snakes..but arachnophobia is REAL..if
you have 8 legs,we can never be friends
2. She can’t scream
3. She is secretly an alien informant sent to Earth to spy for a sentient race of extra-terrestrials poised to arrive and take over shortly (she was kidding with that one 🙂

In the next decade she wants to be at the Trinidad & Tobago carnival!!!! If not,on a
farm she owns, uprooting her supper…or potty training (not her,but the
kids)

So I was curious to find out how these two met. These are the verbatim reports

Twaila: Met Sara in high school, almost 10 years ago. Gosh, makes me feel so old. She’s my constant favorite now.

Sara: Twaila was a really jumpy girl I met on the first day of high school. I found her quite annoying that first day but she ended up growing on me..almost a decade later,she’s my wingman:-)

So before I bid y’all adieu, I must say a couple of things. First, it’s my birthday this week 😀 Second, I had in my company during this shoot the wonderful Barbara who was such a fantastic assistant/shoot director/deejay. Since she’s like one of my favorite people to shoot I just had to do a couple shots of her as we waited for Twaila and Sara to change

And that dear friend is all I had for you today. Look out for many more photos later in the week. This isn’t the only shoot I did that day. Some really cool shots will be coming up, so watch this space carefully 🙂

Person of the Day – Fauziya Hussein

Allow me to introduce you to Fauziya.

She is in her second year studying Psychology in the Kenyatta University.

On one of my regular trawling sessions through the ‘find friends’ section on my Facebook profile, I happened across her profile and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a shoot with her 😀

As usual. I asked her what 3 things the world doesn’t know about her. The answers were:

1. She can’t wink (proved by trial. Hilarious stuff I tell you)
2. She can sing but is really shy about it (I can’t vouch for this though)
3. She loves guys who smell good (and that’s not just soap but actual cologne)

Her aspirations for the next 10 years are to be happy and successful. Because that combination is rare.

The photo above felt so fashion forward. I don’t know why 🙂

This shoot was full of it’s moments. Moments of discovery especially. Everyone learned something new that day. Some more than others 😉 I must say Fauziya did so well in this shoot. That’s why there are so many more photos below 😀

Fauziya’s friend Wariara was kind enough to act as shoot assistant during the shoot and at the end I just HAD to take a couple of shots of her. First, she showed Fauziya how to sit and look like a lady

Then she smiled for the camera
And finally I took a shot of the both of them

That marks the end of today’s post. Next week, we do it all over again 🙂

Person(s) of the Day – Tatenda Wangui and Sally Shadeya

Allow me to introduce you to Tatenda and Sally.

Let’s start with Tatenda because she’s the genesis of how this shoot was done. She finished her IB late last year and is currently awaiting admission to university. She’s in the cooking business and marketing for a company called Kura Yetu.

She posted on my new look Facebook page early last month (have you visited it recently?) and we got to talking and planning and just like that the shoot happened.

As usual. I asked her what 3 things the world doesn’t know about her. The answers were:

1. She is absolutely growing (that last word was redacted and replaced by her :-))
2. She’s addicted to yoghurt, gummy bears and purple.
3. She can do ANYTHING for the people she loves. 

In the next 10 years she wants to have at least 1 child, at least half of the collection of Audis, and a stable life.

Now let’s shift focus to Sally. She’s currently just chilling awaiting university admission.

Sally is Tatenda’s best friend (I could tell from the pet names they used on each other the whole time we were shooting)

So, when I asked about her 3 things this is what she told me:

1. She loves loves loves fashion
2. She loves anything with Ed Westwick in it.
3. She loves Placebo (the rock band) 

In 10 years, she sees herself working (like everybody else – her words, not mine), having kids and just living out the rest of her life in the happiest way possible.

This was a particularly challenging shoot because half the time the skies were threatening to send down torrential rains (however much I was assuring everyone that it wasn’t gonna rain), but thanks to the valiant efforts of the ladies’ friends at holding the reflectors as instructed, the shots worked out. Here’s one bonus image of the two lovely ladies.

And with that, I wish everyone a most fantastic weekend. I’ll have a fresh post for you on Monday. In the meanwhile, feel free to drop by my Facebook page,  and my Tumble-log.

Person of the Day – Diane Ombasyi

Allow me to introduce you to Diane.

She is a freelance mentor, team builder, among many other things.

As usual. I asked her what 3 things the world doesn’t know about her. The answers were:

1. She is a hopeless romantic (ha!)
2. She likes big egos
3. She is at her best when she’s in the wild.
10 years from now, she wants to have set up her own facility to help people. She would also like to be married with 2 kids (though she wants 6 kids)

I have to admit that this was a particularly difficult shoot for me, partly owing to the fact that I hadn’t slept well for a couple of days before thanks to one of my side gigs. I still insist that Diane would absolutely rock a more traditional African kind of look. But hey, that’s just me. I have to say a big up to my good friend Rowena for putting together the shoot and helping with posing and such. Check out her blog here (She’s a talented photographer as well :-)) This is a photo I took of her as we waited for Diane to change

That’s that. For now. I’ll see what else I can put up to keep y’all coming back to the blog. So it’ll be a surprise 😀 Don’t forget to like my page on Facebook. The link is to the right of this post 🙂

Person of the Day – Michelle Kamene

Allow me to introduce you to Michelle.

She is in her second year studying Law in the University of Nairobi.

She happened to post on the wall of my Facebook page that I should do a shoot with her, so I did a shoot with her 😀 (Sounds simple, doesn’t it?)

As usual. I asked her what 3 things the world doesn’t know about her. The answers were:

1. She has a boyfriend.
2. She has multi ethnic lineage (though she can’t speak any of the languages of said ethnic groups).
3. She has been wearing glasses since she was 7 years old (told y’all the geeks shall rule the world).

Her aspirations for the next 5 years are to be an associate at some law firm, to be engaged, rolling large in a Maybach and finally, she’ll be done with her rugby player fetish.

This was a particularly interesting shoot. Michelle checked in with her two very noisy but fun friends and half the shoot was spent telling them to shut it and focus on positioning the reflectors properly. All in all it was a crazy fun time.

I really don’t know what to post this week. I have quite a number of images lying unedited thanks to the valiant efforts of Kenya Power and taking our electricity every morning (Wakwende!!) We’ll see what’ll happen as the week progresses 😀

As always, I have a couple of bonus images. These two pics will probably get me killed, but I sure do think they are worth it. First, a shot of all the ladies that we took when the shoot was over

And lastly, one of those shots that get photographers killed for posting them. Taken as we were figuring out a pose 🙂

Look out for more interesting pics coming up later in the week. And since tomorrow, apparently, is valentine’s day, here’s a word of wisdom to all those lovers reading this. If he/she only does something special for you one day a year, what the heck are you still doing with that person? *side eye*

Kinanda Arts Festival Edition 9 recap

What’s a happening good people?! So, I moonlight as the photographer at Kinanda Arts Festival sometimes and the last time I was actually moonlighting as a videographer. One of the videos I shot and compiled is out and here it is 😀

The next Kinanda Festival is coming up this Sunday. Check out the details here and make sure you show up because you just might appear in the next set of videos 😀

Juxtaposition?

I may be ending my life as I know it by posting this pic but I think since it was taken in good humor, that might extend till now 🙂

I had the opportunity of shooting with a bunch of very gorgeous women some time in December and though I have no idea what I was reading about then, it did impact my ideas for the shoot. I don’t remember what this was called but I guess it could be called ‘Juxtaposition’

Kendy’s so good at acting like she’s just been shot 😀 Anyhu, if anyone can figure out what that’s called please hit me up.

The Missing Lady?

I had the priviledge of shooting in a beautiful location in the middle of a tea farm in Tigoni last weekend. As I hustled the models to get their last outfit changes done quickly, I came across the situation above. One of the models had left her shoes at the verge where the verandah met the grass. I thought it would do for a creepy photo. It felt as if a ghost was walking up the steps of the verandah 😀

That aside, you should definitely look forward to the photos from that shoot. I will have them up soon as I can bring myself to sorting through the 13 or so GB worth of RAW files I created there.

Person of the Day – Damaris Waiyaki

Allow me to introduce you to Damaris.

She is in her final year studying Psychology at USIU.

I met her through @stiviz who tweeted a twitpic one day of himself and her. I immediately demanded that she put a better avi up and this shoot was as a result of those deliberations 😀

When I asked her what 3 things she would not mind the world knowing about her, this is what she had to say. First, she is an adrenaline junkie (Hasn’t bungee’d yet so I do not believe her). Secondly, she is very shy (apparently. Another point  I do not believe). Finally, she  sleeps a lot. I reserve my comments on this.

Her aspirations for the next 10 years are to run her own PR business. No children, but maybe a husband and beach house.

Now let’s talk a little about the shoot. I have to give a large up to @stiviz for putting the whole thing together and actually transporting Damaris and her lovely sister to and from my place for the shoot. He even brought AND cooked burgers for everyone 😀 Awesome guy that one. I did get a few pics of him as we were shooting 🙂

Finally, do look out for Delectable Delights later this week and a surprise post…can’t tell you what it’s about now can I? 😀 Here’s a bonus image to bring this party to a nice end. A wonderfully backlit shot of Damaris and her sister. Enjoy!!

Person(s) of the Day – Cecilia and Sarah

The best way to make a comeback is with a bang. That’s basically the purpose of this post 😀 Allow me to introduce you to:

Cecilia Sagini who is in her 2nd Year at USIU studying IBA, Marketing option.

Sarah Mugambi who is also in her 2nd Year at USIU studying IBA, Marketing option.
The story of how I met these two isn’t REALLY glamorous. I met Cecilia at Kinanda 8, we clicked then I met her again at the Ma3 launch on Saturday, decided she should feature on the blog and she brought her friend Sarah along for the shoot. We then proceeded to have a kick ass time and the results speak for themselves.
Their story is however a lot more interesting. Apparently they knew each other in primary and they stalked each other till campus. One of them (won’t say who) applied to join USIU and the other one upon hearing that applied as well. They both applied for the same course. And the rest is history.
Time for us to go into my usual 21 questions to them. I should say that getting the answers to these questions did take them both quite a while. Quite an interesting couple of minutes I must say 🙂
First off is Cecilia. When I asked what three things she’d not mind the world knowing about her, the first thing she said was that

she is a good swimmer. She then confessed to having a vocally oriented relationship with her shower. That is, she sings in the shower. I did hear her sing along to some songs as they were getting glam’d up for the shoot and she sure can sing. Her third and final thing was that she wants to be in the Olympics some day. Her choice of discipline was the shocker. She wants to go to the Olympics and compete in the shot put competition. I reserve my comments on this.
Next up is Sarah. Her first things was that she is good in the Arts. Second thing was a bit more interesting. She has a tattoo somewhere though she didn’t wanna mention where exactly. I’m still quite curious about the placement of that tattoo. Her third thing was that she is crazily weird sometimes. This was proudly pointed out by Cecilia. Who then went on to say that it’s kinda cool 🙂
I could easily tell that these two were long time friends just from the way they joked around and had fun the whole time we shot. We even got a few action shots like this one 😀
Ok, back to more serious matters. Time for future aspirations. In the next 10 years, Sarah wants to have the biggest fashion line in East Africa. She would also like to have 2 kids and a husband (of course) and hold the title of Marketing director for FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) manufacturing company. Especially the beverage oriented industries.
Cecilia would like to be a big shot with e’erything. Her words, not mine. Seriously though, she would like to have her own company and run it well. Probably an events management firm or something of the sort. Possibly, she would wanna have the right guy already and one kid at least.
Time for me to bring this lil’ shindig to an end. A few words about the shoot, my home-made reflector really came in handy to make the photos really pop. The sun was playing tricks with me the whole time so I wasn’t really able to get any of my famous backlit shots done. However, if all goes according to plan, I should be doing another shoot with these two some time soon. I hope the sun will be cooperative second time around.
This is just the beginning of the great things I have lined up for you this week so make sure you follow the blog and sign up to be emailed when new posts come out. To keep y’all busy till tomorrow, do take some time to enjoy the slideshow below of all the notable images from the shoot 😀

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Emy and Rose – A Teaser

What’s up good people? I am unfortunately not feeling very well so I couldn’t prepare a full person of the day post for today. I am however going to give you a teaser. I had a shoot with two beautiful ladies the other day and when I am feeling better I will do a proper post about them. Introducing;


Emy

and Rose.

So look out for a Person(s) of the Day post about them some time this week. For now, allow me to go be sick.

Two beautiful women in B/W

As the title says, today I will feature one of the shots that never made it to the original blog post about a shoot I did with 3 beautiful women, Julia, Cynthia and Annette. I love black and white shots 😀

This week we will have another special Flashback Friday post so do look out for that. Till then, domo arigato gozaimasu 😀

More of Kinanda Arts Festival Edition 9

A good friend of mine called Albert recently got into the photo taking business and we have been shooting side by side at Kinanda festivals since edition 6. If you remember well, I switched cameras with him for a while and got some really kick ass pics while I was at it. In the spirit of camaraderie, he asked that I put up a few pics from yesterday for him. Here they are 😀

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Kinanda Arts Festival Edition 9

Today marked the return of the Kinanda Arts Festival to the monthly events calendar. Dubbed the “Tumehama Edition”, it marked a new beginning for Kinanda Fest because the venue had changed from Kifaru Gardens to the KARI grounds. Also, because Kinanda Fest took a break in September this month’s edition was extra special as the organizers pulled out all the stops to ensure it would be a world class event. I can assure you that it surely was fantastic.

By the time I arrived at KARI, I was feeling quite harassed. Let’s just say my morning didn’t start out as well as I hoped. I blame Murphy for that 😀 My MO (Modus Operandi) for the afternoon was a tad different because I was tasked with shooting video so that we can create an after movie for Kinanda (You GOTTA look out for that real soon). I still got to take a few pics here and there. The ones that stood out among the hundreds were:

This one of  two beautiful ladies, both called Njeri.

This star studded pic featuring (from left) Polycarp, Chimano, Juliani and Bien.

There were 3 Honda superbikes… I need not say more…

Finally, this was THE CRAZIEST picture I took the whole of today. Presenting, the evolution of man.

Please take some time to enjoy the gallery and slideshow below. Feel free to right click/save as any photo you appear in. Do spread the word as well 😀

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Picture of the Day – Baby Becca

SO, yesterday I had the priviledge of spending some time with my niece Rebecca. Her parents brought her over to my backyard so I could give her the celebrity treatment and that I did 😀

This was actually the first shot I took of her. It seemed to me at the time that this baby sure knew how to hold a pose. Looking through pics from the rest of the shoot, she sure does 😀

Coming up later in the week, we will have more of those Delectable Delights y’all absolutely love as well as Flashback Fridays might be making a come back this Friday. Be sure to look forward to those…

Julia et Anita et Cynthia

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of doing a shoot with three beautiful women, Cynthia, Julia and Anita. If you remember well, I had mentioned that I would be doing a second shoot with Cynthia and Julia and this was it. (see the person of the day post I did about them here)
Anita

Julia

And Cynthia.

As always, enough with words. If you want to find out more about Cynthia and Julia do check out the person of the day post. Enjoy the slideshow/gallery 😀

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Picture of The Day – Joy

What’s happening good people?! This is me hoping that everyone has had a most fantastic weekend and thanking you once again for being that person checking out my blog right now 😀

Today’s post is the last in a series of posts about a shoot I had at the Ngong Hills with @tindilicious 2 sundays ago. Now, these days I have learnt that having someone at your side at shoots is important because there are things you will not see as a photographer that someone else will see. Like a misplaced strand of hair. Or a hand that’s placed funny. So I try as much as possible to have someone acting as my second pair of eyes. For that shoot, my friend Joy was so gracious as to accompany us. While Tindi and Mulwa were figuring out their poses, I took this lovely shot of Joy.

I will try to get her in front of the camera again in the near future so that I can do a full person of the day post about her. Let’s hope she doesn’t run away from the camera 😀
Coming up this week is a whole lot of wonderful photos for you, so make sure you make this blog your first stop on the internet every day 😉 Feel free to drop me a comment below by the way…

Picture of The Day – Paradise Tree

So this past Sunday I did a lot. After a shoot with the  Buku sisters, I had to dash off to the Ngong hills for a shoot with @tindilicious and her boyfriend. The photos from that shoot will be up tomorrow. Anyhu, Tindi spotted a tree somewhere down the face of one hill that had such luscious green grass under it while the grass around it was dry and brown.

A slice of paradise in the middle of desperation. Me thinks 😀

Person(s) of the Day – Cynthia and Julie Buku

What’s good people?! I trust everyone had a weekend as eventful and fun-filled as mine 😀

This is one of those weeks that we will start with a mega post. Allow me to introduce you to Cynthia (left) and Julie (right).

Ardent readers of the blog will by now have realized that I have featured Julie in several other posts like this one, and this one. Cynthia is a new entrant and hopefully she will be featured as often as her sister.

So, let’s start with the new comer. Cynthia is a second year student at the University of Nairobi, Kabete Campus and she’s studying for a Bsc. in Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics.

When I asked her 3 things about her that the world did not know, she said:

1. Not every song is her favorite song. (ok, this is an inside joke :-))

2. She secretly misses her braces.

3. She can’t express anger.

In the next 10 years she wants to be “rich, married and probably working in a hospital as a clinical nutritionist”. She also dreams of starting a wellness centre some time in the future.

Something interesting she told me while we were talking, she tends to surprise herself a lot so she won’t be surprised if, in the future, she achieves a lot more than she said she would.

Let’s shift attention to Julie. She’s a senior, studying for a BA in Psychology at the United States International University – Africa.

When I asked what her 3 things were she said:

1. She has really bad stagefright although she loves performing.

2.She sucks at saving money (don’t we all…)

3. She cries very easily. Cynthia apparently makes fun of this a lot but Julie sees it as not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength because she’s in tune with her emotions.

In the next 10 years, she hopes to have started a school breakfast program especially for schools in the rural and slum areas in Kenya. She’s doing a very enlightening study for her senior project on the effects of a standard breakfast on how students are able to learn during the day.

Now for a bit of information about the shoot. It happened this Sunday afternoon in a span of 10 – 15 minutes. The whole idea was to quickly get a few good pics of the both of them, as well as a few good pics of them individually. My day was overbooked so I really couldn’t spare much more time. The ladies were wonderfully cooperative and intuitive with posing. I am sure that the pictures speak volumes about that. I am looking forward to doing another shoot with them really soon. A themed shoot to be precise. That’s something you should also look forward to on the blog 😀

Do look out for more beautiful moments like these throughout this week. I am going to try to post every day so I can make up for the 2 days I missed out last week. Key word here is try 😀 Big shout out to everyone who’s been visiting the blog regularly. You’re my favorite person in this world!

Picture of The Day – Windmills

What it does people?! So, today’s post is about one of those pictures that gets lost in the batch while photos are being edited after a shoot. A short while ago, I took out my brother’s car and some of my friends and went to shoot at the Ngong hills. What transpired afterwards was 2 great person of the day posts which you can view here and here. This photos is one I took as I was waiting for the shoot director to do her props thing 😀

Lovely eh? Keep it here for more wonderful images as the week progresses, coming to your computer screen thanks to tihs blog 😀

Picture of the Day – The Shoe

What it does people?! Today’s photo comes from a set of photos I took while travelling the country with a documentary crew. We were documenting human rights abuses and we came across some people who’d been forcefully evicted in Muthurwa estate. They were thrown out in the night and their belongings ran over by the bulldozers that came to demolish the places they called home. All in the name of progress

I think the photo speaks for itself.

Look out for more photos this week. I have a very nice Delectable Delight lined up for you as well as another edition of Flashback Fridays coming up at the end of the week. Don’t miss it 😀

Picture of the Day – Silhouette

What’s up y’all? This is me hoping everyone had a most interesting Eid ul Fitr. I also took a short holiday, thus the reason why I didn’t post yesterday.

Today’s image is from the set I did at Kinanda Arts Festival 6. For all of you who haven’t seen that awesomeness, head on over to this link to see what you missed. This photo struck me because it tells so much without saying anything at all. Plus it’s absolutely fierce 😀

That marks the end of today’s blog post. Coming up for you tomorrow is a double post of the week’s Delectable Delight as well as Flashback Friday making a come back. Look out for that 😀 Have fun y’all!!

Person of The Day – Amina

Allow me to introduce you to Ami. She works as a communications officer for an education initiative called Uwezo.

She is also proud MD of her own company called The Workshop Company. I believe that the name says everything about what they do 😀

Her likes are food. She likes looking at it, making it and lastly but most definitely best, she likes eating it.

When I asked her 3 interesting things about herself, she said that first, her nickname sounds like Chinese noodles. Second, She loves watching Korean horror movies, they apparently make her happy.

And finally, she will one day create her own country, aptly named Aminirica or she’ll just move planets. And I quote “watch out now!”

If you want to know more about her please follow her Tumblelog and her twitter.

 

Picture of the Day – Omena

What’s happening peoples?! Here’s hoping that you are having a wonderful week. Today’s photo of the day is of omena drying in the sun in Bondo. This was taken earlier this year while I was taking part in the documentation of  a UNDP project that’s promoting access to rights. The project has empowered women living in Bondo to engage in self sustaining financial ventures that have generally improved the quality of life in the area. You can get more information about this program at http://www.ke.undp.org

Look out for the winners of last week’s photo contest later today or tomorrow. Who knows, it could be you 😀

 

Picture of the Day: The Monster

What’s good people? I sure hope everyone had a most interesting weekend. I am now known as James Ochweri B.A 😀 Finally graduated on Saturday. In absentia, but that’s another story for another day.

Today, I wanted to showcase the vehicle that has really been a boon to my various side hustles. It’s a car that  my friends have come to fondly refer to as the monster. I love this car because it can move people and things en masse. Which is really important sometimes when you’re a photographer. The photo was taken while we were at the Ngong hills reserve for a photoshoot a few weeks ago.

And that is the end of today’s post. This week I will announce the winner of last week’s photo contest and hopefully put up another contest so please keep checking back to the blog. And enjoy your week 😀

 

Picture of the Day – Lady in a red scarf

So, first picture of the day in a long while. How I chose these pics is a story for another day. Today’s picture of the day comes from a shoot I did with Rachel. I had shot her and featured her on the blog a while ago. We had a 20 minute session some time last month and this picture called out to me from that lot, wanting to be posted.

I don’t remember what the inspiration for this picture was. I just loved it once I took it 😀

Check out more about Rachel here, and keep it locked to the blog because the week isn’t over yet. There’s lots more in store for you…

There was a story…

What’s good people?! I know y’all didn’t miss me. I missed posting though. But I am now back FULLY. Finally done from my undergraduate studies in USIU. Soon to be a jobless university graduate 😀

Anyhu, there was a story that was to be told. It hasn’t been told for such a long time because the ones to tell the story took so long coming up with the story that I have decided to just tell it myself.

It’s a story about a man

His woman

And his girlfriend.

So, this is what I am gonna do. I wanna challenge your creativity readers. I am putting the images in sequence and best story posted in the comments section wins the writer a chance to feature as a person of the day on this blog. Kazi kwenu sasa. 

Ready…set….GO!!!

Person of the Day – Kavosa Assava

Allow me to introduce you to Kavosa. She is an International Relations senior at United States International University.

When she’s not in school, she dances, writes poetry, enjoys music, and loves to eat and hate.

In the next 5 years she would like to have finished her law degree. She also wants to run a school or NGO for the under privileged in society where, through individual sponsorship, they can be fed, educated and can nurture their talents and get psychological support.

In her words, she wants to make people’s dreams come true and her motto is “live life, don’t waste it, love it”

These images are part of a shoot I did at the Ngong  Hills. Kavosa was the only one who replied to my tweets about the shoot. I should say she was fantastic to work with. She could’ve been a professional model 😀

This last one is a bonus image I took of my props supervisor/shoot director Kadryn and Kavosa. Quite something huh?

#HemediSwag

Do you remember the episode of Tusker All Stars when Hemedi walked out on stage with an umbrella and dark sunglasses? Well, @msupastar was struck with the notion to run with that idea and thus #HemediSwag was born on Twitter. We had a few notables twitpic-ing their own iterations of the umbrella+stunnaz combination which were quite hilarious. This past Sunday at the 7th Edition of the Kinanda Arts Festival, there was a shoot that culminated this new fad. It was organized by @msupastar herself and featured @kevdanative @ngendo87 @kandutsie and @fena_menal. Enough talk, enjoy the images 😀

Kinanda Arts Festival 07

What’s good people?!

So,
This afternoon Kifaru Gardens in Lavington was awash with talent, beauty and style. Yours truly was the official Kinanda photographer, was up and down capturing the moments, so as you can guess I am so tired, and that’s why this blogpost is soooooo…short!! Without further ado, enjoy the images below and check out the Kinanda blog for more of my work.

Person of the Day – Christine Njeri

Allow me to introduce you to Christine. She is an IT student at JKUAT in her final year.

I met Christine this past sunday. She heeded to the call I had sent out last week for people to shoot and shoot with at the Ngong hills on sunday and she’d offered to help shoot. She ended up posing for quite a few photos herself apart from doing lighting. She is seriously all about fashion and maintains a  a facebook page entitled “the fashionista mansion” which is all about fashion trends and styles. She is currently working on a blog which will be about my personal style and fashion news and styles. I will link to it as soon as it is up.

In the near future she wants to be “an amazing stylist for an awesome magazine” (her words, not mine). She also wants to own her own fashion store like Mr. Price or Truworths. She is also working on her own fashion website which will cover all that there is to know about the fashion industry in Kenya. She really wishes we had Vogue Magazine in East Africa (I am not an ardent Vogue reader but I must concur).

Christine says that she is all about fashion and she really wishes that she will get a nice job in fashion and get to go Paris, Milan and all the major fashion cities around the world. Fun facts about her, she thinks she’s the craziest person about fashion, and she thinks she’s a major shopaholic but  down to earth kinda person.

More stories about the shoot can be found here. I do have to make special mention of Christine’s agility. She was able to climb a gigantic crane, in heels. That’s some skill, I tell you.

 

Till later this week, enjoy!!!

 

P.S

I did a bit of photoshop to some of the images. If only to show those punks who were deriding my work that I was working with photoshop while they were still wearing shorts in primary school. As @MutuaMatheka said, photoshop is supposed to enhance the image.

Rendezvous in the Hills – Behind the Scenes

What’s good y’all?! Apologies for being away for the past few days. It’s been an interestingly busy weekend.

 

Anyhu, late last week I sent out a general call on my Twitter and Facebook for people who would be interested to join me at a shoot atop the Ngong hills. The reactions wasn’t fantastic but in retrospect, it was a good thing we weren’t too many people. gave me a chance to focus my energies on the 2 who I ended up shooting.

It was a really fun shoot. Kavosa was the main model and she really really brought it. Kadryn did creative direction and Christine did lighting.

That was Kadryn at work helping Christine pose for a shot. I should say she did a really good job of thinking up poses for both Kavosa and Christine and she was wonderful with props and setting up a scene.

Every shoot has it’s fun moments and we had our fair share of them. My favorite one was right before we called it a wrap when the whole crew started dancing to a luhya wedding song. (I am gonna get skinned alive for posting this picture 🙂

I am thankful for this crew who worked together with a synergy that was on it’s own special level even if they’d only just met. I will be bringing the images from that shoot in 2 installments this week. Both will be person of the day posts about Kavosa and Christine. Look out for those.

 

Till later, have fun y’all 😀

Person of the Day – Sheila Maingi

Allow me to introduce you to Sheila. I forgot which year she is in, but she’s a Psychology and Literature major at the University of Nairobi.

I met Sheila at an event in town sometime in March this year. She’d appeared a lot on my timeline before and I think I had read her blog a few times. But when I met her, I IMMEDIATELY followed her and we’ve tweeted each other since. I think @marcusolang, who was with me at the time, had the exact same reaction. From then, I have always wanted to do a shoot with her and last week, I got the golden opportunity.

Her interests include blogging and travelling. I tend to meet her a lot at events so I can also tell she’s a big fan of poetry and live music. She mentioned that her writing is on a whim a.k.a she writes with a muse. Which I thought was cool 😀

Coolest thing she told me while we were shooting was that her ancestral home is somewhere in Kijabe and that the town there is named Maingi after her grandad. How cool is that?! I wish I had a town named after me…

The lighting was something special during the shoot. I know some people will notice I blew out the highlights in most of  the photos but there was reason to that. Which I don’t remember 😀

You can find her on Twitter here.

 

Till later this week, have fun y’all 😀

Person of the Day – Lyra Aoko

Allow me to introduce you to Lyra. She is the winner of the inaugural Samsung Zikistar competition

 

I met Lyra at a launch that was held for her at the Galileo lounge mid June. I was covering the launch for Vibe weekly and I remember that when the press was done having a karaoke competition, Lyra was called on to do a rendition of Beyonce’s Listen. When she started singing, I remember remarking to @kevdanative that if she was taking part in the competition, the rest of us had no chance at winning it, only to find out a few minutes later that she was actually the Zikistar 😀

To cut a long story short, Lyra followed me on Twitter shortly after the images from that launch went up (view them here) and I was starstruck (for a short while anyway) She’s most recognized for her attractive smile and bubbly personality. As a performing artist, she has already collaborated with Wyre on a single called Happy that was launched that night at Galileo lounge and has gotten quite a bit of airplay on FM stations across the country.

She’s looking forward to studying communications in the near future. I might not be able to say where and exactly when without express permission 😀 She loves music quite a lot and would like to study it too.

The shoot was a lot of fun. It was very relaxed because she was scared that she couldn’t model. But the images came out really well. Especially the B/W images. It was a challenge choosing the few images I have put up. There were so many fantastic shots.

For more about Lyra, there’s an article on her by One FM available here, you can find her on Facebook here and her SoundCloud is here.

 

P.S

I have been feeling lens flares for a while now. Like the one in that last pic. Not the easiest things to pull off though.

Later gators :-]

What to look out for this week…

So, later this week we will have 2 persons of the day featuring on the blog. First will be the lovely Ms. Sheila (pictured above) then the lovely Ms. Lyra (pictured below)

Keep checking back for those. In the meanwhile, I have quit teasing *hides*

 

Picture of the Day – Color in a Black and White World

Before I begin, have you seen the competition I put up on yesterday’s post? If not, go have a look. You might just win yourself a free photoshoot with me 😀

Today’s one of those days I am totally lacking inspiration. So nothing really quirky to say in this post :-/

The photo is part of a shoot I did last weekend that I have been hinting towards since the beginning of the week. I wasn’t too sure it would make it into the story, so it’s coming up here instead. @vuyanzi93 is slowly becoming my favorite person to shoot.

And yes, it is photoshopped albeit slightly. I wanted to bring out the colour in her eyes. Hat tip to @cooxie02 a.k.a the creative director for seeing this image and alerting me to change lenses in time to catch it 😀

Picture of the Day – Tools of Trade

So, as I was shooting the lovely Ms. Lyra Aoko yesterday (fantastic person that one) there were a number of lulls when she was changing and grabbing some stuff from the house. In one of those lulls, I decided to keep busy by taking photos of my Ray Bans atop her Samsung Galaxy Tab. Below is what transpired…So, two very cool items. What would be the job description of the person who could best utilize the both of them? Gimme your answer in the comments section below and the most creative comment will win it’s author a free shoot for 2 with me for the person of the day segment here on the blog. So get a commenting now 😀

 

Picture of the Day – The Ark

What’s happening people?! Today’s photo is sort of a re-post. I posted it among a large number of photos in one of my first blog posts so I don’t think it got noticed. Me thinks this is one of my favorite images. The photo depicts The Ark, which is a hotel deep inside the Aberdares National park, in the late evening twilight after the sun has set. I am now craving a stay there.

Till later this week, have fun y’all 😀

 

Person of the Day – Cynthia Kimola

Allow me to introduce you to Cynthia. She is a fourth year Communications major at Daystar university.

She is a woman of many talents so she wears many hats at the same time. She is the programming manager for 103.1 Shine FM (daystar’s campus radio station) and she presents a gospel hiphop show on the same station. I can tell she’s a film enthusiast because I met her 2 months ago at a Lola Kenya Screen forum that was showing Organs, a movie shot and produced by a couple of my friends.

According to her, music is a very big part of her life. She is in love with gospel hiphop so you can imagine how close to her heart her show is. Also, she loves her voice, loves to smile, and she derives joy from motivating people (cough, conceited much?, cough)

In a few years she wants to be working for herself at the head of a creative think tank. Sounds cool, right? Fun facts about her: She doesn’t eat cake, milk, oreggs and she would secretly love to be a DJ. Just for the fun of it.

The shoot happened this past Sunday afternoon. Cynthia and her friend Julia (her ‘screen name’) were gracious enough to come to my backyard for the shoot. I will do a post with pics of both of them some time soon, so look out for that. In the meanwhile, that marks the end of today’s post. I have a lot lined up for you this week so bookmark the blog and put a reminder on your phone to check it out every day from now on 😀

*does low bow in Japanese fashion* Domo arigato gozaimasu

 

P.S

Doesn’t that last photo just look interesting. She was channeling her inner shepherdess *hides*

 

The 4 phases of Crystal

Allow me to introduce you to Crystal a.k.a @crystalolisa. She is a second year student at the East African School of Media Studies majoring in Video Production. I came to know of her a few weeks ago when she responded to one of my random calls for people to shoot for the Person of the Day segment on this blog. I like to think that she was keenly watching her timeline because shortly after I tweeted about it, she had replied.

The shoot took place mid afternoon yesterday and it was refreshing. Believe me that. Let me prove it.

Presenting the 4 phases of Crystal


This is sultry Crystal


That is the very feisty Crystal


A very relaxed Crystal


And finally, a beaming Crystal. A nice smile that one.

Now that is what I call an afternoon well spent 😀

I now bid you farewell. I will try to post again over Independence day weekend. If I don’t blame it on the Americans 😀

P.S
There is a pun in this post. Post your guess in the comments section below and you might just win yourself a chance to appear in the Person of the Day segment…

Person of the Day – Faith Njeri

Allow me to introduce Faith Njeri. She’s a holder of a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from USIU and a very good friend of mine. We’ve shared many a bad and good class over the years.

A few weeks ago when I randomly put it on twitter that I wanted someone to shoot for this segment, she was among the first people to holla back at me for details. We set up the shoot and she somehow managed to make it through the rough Nairobi traffic to my backyard on the appointed day. Then the magic began happening.

She did a very good job working the poses and the results truly were fantastic…

For more info about this lovely lady, send her a follow request on her twitter or talk to me nicely 😀

 

Till later this week, deuces!!

More of Kinanda Arts Festival Edition 6

So, the blog has hit 1000 views in under 3 hours 😀 Pure niceness I tell you. Big up to everyone who viewed and commented.

Anyway, as I was doing my impromptu photoshoots at Kinanda yesterday, my friend @misteralbie arrived and took away my camera. He put his Nikon D90 into my hands instead and sent me out to create magic. This is what ensued…

Hat tip to him for the spot of luck that led to my getting these pics this morning.

Kinanda Arts Festival Edition 6

So yesterday it rained. And rained. And RAINED. But this month’s edition of Kinanda Arts festival was literally the best I have ever attended. There had only been one performance when the rain came pouring down and while everyone sheltered under the eaves of the Kifaru house, the organizers (@msupastar @rimbui and @wandirik) schemed to have the performances continue inside the house. What ensued afterwards was one of the best acoustic sessions I have attended in the country. In the meanwhile, I kept myself busy doing impromptu photo shoots with the like of @saitonne, Charles Righa, @marcusolang and @askakinyi.

Hat tip to Kevin Mbuthia for the great help in taking photos while I transformed from a zombie back to a human being 😀

But enough garb. Check out the gallery below for the images 😀

Picture of the Day – The Stairs of Life

I had a random thought today. You know how in life sometimes  you climb higher and higher as you aspire to be great? Then when you reach the top of the stairs there’s nothing but empty air in front of you? Well, you just need to stop climbing, look a little to your left or right and you will be surprised to find that there’s a short path on that level leading you to more stairs that lead to greater heights 😀

This picture was taken at the Aberdares Country Club late last year on a lazy afternoon after the end of a retreat I was attending there. The place is riddled with stairs because it is built into the side of a hill. We joked the whole time we were there that we were eating to compensate for the exercise we would do going back to our rooms afterwards 🙂

 

Picture of the Day – A Flower

What’s happening people? Here’s hoping everyone had a most interesting weekend. Apologies for being AWOL again most of last week. School’s really taking a lot out of me.

That aside, today we take a quick look into my backyard. Aside from the veritable fruit trees planted all over the yard, the plant which is photographed above also has quite some prominence. It’s in the family of the cactus, sisal and aloe plants and has very tough thick leaves that taper to a sharp point. As soon as I know it’s name I will tell you what it is called. Anyway, out of all that toughness, every so often it flowers. These blossoms are so delicate that you wonder how something so beautiful can come out of something so rough. Today’s lesson is that nature teaches us to be tough and prickly on the outside but beautiful and gentle on the inside.

That, ladies and gentlemen, marks the end of our blog post for today. I can promise you at least 1 poem this week so look out for that 😀

Later!! 🙂

Picture of the Day – Emma and Friends

This year’s Easter weekend was meant to be different. I had planned to help my friends drive down to Malindi and afterwards enjoy a quiet holiday in the picturesque town. That never happened. I had to stay home for the holidays like every year in the past decade. Thankfully, my friend Emma sent me an invite for a barbecue at her place just in time to beat the holiday blues. She was very specific that I should carry along my camera. That I did. And got some beautiful portraits while I was at it 😀 The image above is just one of the many. It stood out for me because it just makes me wanna smile back. Emma (right) had been bugging me to do photos with her for a while so it was a great opportunity for the both of us to interact “photographically” in preparation for a future shoot.

That marks the end of today’s post. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Picture of the Day: It’s Toyota Country!

I saw an ad on television today as I was wondering what to post. Apparently Toyota has changed identities and is now called Toyota Kenya. Not that I am giving them free advertising but I have had some fantastic fun in several iterations of their now famous Landcruiser 4×4 vehicle. Thus the inspiration for the photo above. It was taken in the middle of nowhere around Daadab town as we were doing some project site visits at the refugee camp there. That was one of the several Landcruisers that made up our sizable entourage that day, which coincidentally was exclusively made up of Landcruisers. There is really few places on earth those off road vehicles can’t go 😀 The number plate has of course been blanked out to preserve the owner’s privacy.

And that is that for the day. Till tomorrow, au revoire 😀

Stunnaz and Swag

What’s good people?! First off, I have to send out my sincere gratitude to everyone for pushing this blog to the top with almost 1500 hits in a day. Y’all are awesome!!

Anyway, this past friday I got together with my crew to brainstorm on a few projects that we are planning to shoot in the next few weeks. After that really challenging 2 hour session, we had to go do reconnaissance at some places around school and because the late evening light was so beautiful, this happened.

Yes, I was with the usual suspects 😀 The light was really really awesome and it somehow made Njomo’s pot disappear…hehehehehehe

A bit later we retreated to Tony and Frank’s place with a new addition to our posse, Msilanga. I insisted that we go to the rooftop and continue taking pics. I had an idea for a video we could do while the sun was low, so as we prepped for that (read as Tony looked for the camera) I shot everyone.

It was all about our stunna swag that afternoon (one of the pairs was mine 🙂 and I can say that these guys knew how to go hard. All in all an afternoon well spent. Even my phone getting stolen later that evening couldn’t spoil the good feeling I had after that shoot.

And that dear people is the end of this post. I will try to post that video we did that day so y’all can ooh! and aaah! 😉 Till later this week, have fun y’all!!!

P.S Feel free to share this blog with a friend 😀

Picture of the Day – Looking up to the heavens

What’s good people? I sure hope this week is going well for everybody. So I spent the whole of today wondering where I would be getting inspiration to do today’s post. I took out my camera and took photos of the people I met and places I went in the morning. None of the photos appealed to me. I racked my brain and scanned my archives when I got home in the afternoon. Nothing felt right. Then I took a moment to look up to the heavens. And this happened…

Kadryn has made a previous appearance on this blog and this photo of her was taken in my backyard as part of our first shoot. This photo spoke to me. Really loud.

Be inspired y’all 😀

Persons of the Day – Abi and Kylie

Allow me to introduce Abi and Kylie. So, apparently the Person of the Day segment on this blog has been making some waves on Twirra. And Abi couldn’t have it that she had not been featured on this segment (narcissistic much?) so yesterday she turned up in my backyard with Kylie and magic was created.

Abi is arguably the best writer I know. She maintains a blog and also writes for a site on the interwebs, among many other wonderful things she somehow finds time to do all at once. Abi is one of the best friends I have 😀

Kylie used to be an enigma. She was that chick dressed in black hanging out with Abi when I would meet her. As I got to know her, I learnt that she is one of the most interesting people I know. She’s really cool 😀 Follow her now on twitter.

I am mad exhausted so I can’t say much more (will explain my exhaustion later this week) Enjoy a taste of pics from the rest of the shoot below 🙂

This last picture will get me into A LOT of trouble, but hey, trouble’s my middle name 😉 Later cool peeps!

Picture of the Day – True Love

What’s good y’all? 😀

Today’s is gonna be short post because I am  dog tired. It’s been a long set of days. That’s for sure. So, as I was trawling my archives for something to post today, I came across a picture that I had taken on a visit at the Ark in the Aberdares Nat. Park

The whole time we were there, these two elephants were cuddling up against each other and protecting their young from a foolhardy band of hyenas who kept trying to sneak up to the elephants. Nature must have been showing me what true love means. Staying together even when the hyenas are circling and cackling in the distance, knowing that together we’re a greater force than we could ever be apart.

Love and feel loved today 😀

Randomness by the beach

These photos were taken outside the beach-side bar at the Nyali Beach Resort as I was waiting for my colleagues to get ready so we could go to Aga Khan Academy for the Samosa festival sometime in December last year. Absolute randomness.

First there was a chair

which was under some trees by the sea

With the danger of coconuts falling from sun bathed heights

It was truly relaxing 😀 (and those are not my feet in the shot)

At Grogan’s Castle

What’s happening people? This week’s first post is all about a very historic place I visited earlier this year. Have you ever heard of the man who walked from Cape to Cairo to prove his undying love for his wife? Well, he built her a castle on a hill in the middle of a plain in Taveta. It was under renovation when we visited. But it is now open for business. An enchanting place if I may say so myself.Only one word can fully describe that place. Magical

And from the inside

The view from the bar

It is a wonderful place to have yourself a quiet relaxing holiday and I would recommend it to EVERYBODY. You haven’t lived till you’ve visited there. Mark my words. The views in themselves can take your breath away. Imagine looking at Mt. Kilimanjaro as you have your evening tea (or sundowner drink 😉 And actually fishing for your dinner at Lake Jipe. Or visiting a lake so deep no one knows how deep it actually is. Even less know it exists. Well you have a golden chance do so since till June they are having a special offer for Kenyans so head on over to their site and book your stay there right now.

I have not been paid to do this post by the way 😀 I just want to share the awe I felt while I was there. So to crown that, this last image was taken from the side of the castle that faces the Pare ranges. The smoke is as a result of squatters who were burning papyrus reeds to clear land for them to settle on. Something ethereal about this photo.

Till later this week, have fun y’all!

Person of the Day – Rachel

Allow me to introduce Rachel. She says she isn’t a model but she sure does pose like one (and dress better than most 🙂 We met on the set of a photoshoot for a magazine a few years ago and ever since, she has been asking me when i would do a shoot with her. So last week I decided to do her headshots. The one thing I enjoyed most about this shoot was that it took such a short time. Each shot was taken once. Well, most shots anyway. A few had to be re-shot after we previewed them on a computer because we both knew she could do better.

That, dear friends, marks the end of this post. If you would like to see more of Rachel, find her here. Till later this week, have fun y’all!

The “Tet”

In my defense, that was the name we were using in jest to refer to this shoot.  I felt that it would suit for the title of this post. So without much further ado: Introducing Nanjira And Kadryn. There’s a long story as to how I came to know these two but let me save that for another day. The shoot was Kadryn’s idea after I had done another shoot with her. I count is as one of my best shoots this year. These two worked well together in coming up with poses and utilizing the location (my backyard and my front yard at home). The results are as follows… I don’t know about you but that shot speaks volumes to me about the bond of friendship between the two girls. Plus they do have some great smiles 😀 This shot struck me as a throwback to the time when 504 was the manager’s car and it was fashionable to be seen wearing bellbottoms and large afros. The 504 in the shot is my lovely one and only (nameless) car. As Kadryn said, this shot is all about the details. See what quirky details you can spot 😀 This one still strikes me speechless. So let me not say a thing. This last shot will most definitely get me into trouble but at this point I am too bothered showing it off to care 🙂 It’s one of the last shots we did that day.  I think it’s one of the most serene shots I have ever taken. And with that, the ‘tet’ was over. You can find Nanjira on twitter and you can also find Kadryn on twitter. Hit me up in the comments section below and tell me if this should classify as the best shoot on my blog so far. Have a great Labor Day weekend y’all!

A Mountain in the Morning

What’s happening good people? I went on a shoot to the foothills of Mt Kenya some few months ago and as part of the shoot we had to be up at 3 am so we could get footage of a farmer milking his cows and making the delivery to the local cooperative society. So when that was done everyone retreated to the cars to sleep. When sunrise came, to our surprise, Mt Kenya was out in all her glory as evidenced below…

I loved the way that place looked in the morning. Very peaceful. Lovely weather worked to our advantage too.

That was definitely the best morning I have ever had so far. And I can report that the mission was success because our little documentary was featured in an international UNDP launch 😀

As a bonus, during the whole experience I kept taking random photos of stuff to keep my mind from dying from boredom. Here’s my favorite one 😀

And that’s that. Till next time, bye 😀 😀

Around Kenya in a few pictures

Kenya is a very beautiful country. Let me prove it This was taken from the back of a project vehicle on the Loitoktok – Sultan Hamud road. What you’re seeing there is the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro that they never show you. Now you know 😀

Did you know there are miles and miles of abandoned railway line in Taveta county? This one was right next to a sisal farm. Quite a sad state of affairs I tell you…

Could you imagine a prison could look so good from the inside? Yes, that is the inside of Shimo la Tewa prison. I quite enjoyed being there. The place is BEAUTIFUL.

Towards the end of our trip, we randomly landed at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s home. And did a short tour of the place. They were cleaning up the place so there was a lot of smoke from the rubbish they were burning. I loved the effect it had on my pictures

This last one was taken here in Nairobi at the Muthurwa estate. Someone lives here.