Generation Kenya» Worth a Thousand Words

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Jerry Riley — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:39:09 +0000

One of the primary jobs of photography is to document everyday life for reference in the future, and the photograph’s ability to recall memories, some buried under a lifetime of experiences, is one of its true powers. We all remember a time in our lives when school was our world. I had come to be at the school while accompanying my partner Dr. Wambui Mwangi, a former Valley Road student, on a visit to an important part of her past. The LCVR photos posted online triggered good memories in many people, some of whom sent comments about their reminiscences.

In response to these comments I am posting more LCVR images. As I was preparing the images, I was struck by the backpacks in hallways, books on tables, and hallways empty of students, all busy in class. As a photographer I am always looking for views and angles that give a sense of a place, the proximity of elements, how the light defines or accents its features. I look for places that feel like they have history. In this series, the photo of the base of a spiral staircase struck me as one of those places that someone would have marked as their own via a memory or experience. The green benches under the trees also seems to hold stories. I hope these images trigger more memories.

Mohinder S. Dhillon – Kenyan photographer

Yvonne Owuor — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:44:59 +0000

Mohinder Dhillon (Founder and CEO of Africapix Media Ltd.) has been in photography since 1953 under the business name of Halle Studios and in 1961 formed Africapix, shooting both stills and TV pictures. Mohinder’s still pictures have been circulated round the world to newspapers and magazines especially prestigious European magazines like Quick, Stern, Paris Match etc.

Mohinder loves nature and in particular shooting wildlife with very wide panoramic shots and would disappear into the bush with his family for weeks. These pictures have been used in calendars, picture books and magazines. As a TV news cameraman Mohinder has roamed round the world always carrying his Leica stills camera round his neck to capture some rare shots. He was the first photo and TV journalist to capture the plight of Iranian Kurds behind Khomeini’s lines and his extraordinary first pictures shocked the world generating a lot for sympathy of Kurdish sufferance.

(editor’s note: For this photo essay I have chosen pictures of Mohinder in the field as an appreciation of the hard work involved in collecting stories, especially prior to the digital age.)

Additional reporting by Nick Ysenberg

Painting With Light: Capturing The Faces Of Post-Independence Kenya

Rasna Warah — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:14:23 +0000

Photography is an intimate art. At some level, photographers must capture the souls of their subjects on film. This often requires a level of empathy and intuition besides a love of the art itself.

From 1963 till his death in 1989, my father, Kulwant Singh Warah, popularly known as Mr. Singh of Studio One, was one of the most popular photographers in Kenya. Portraits had become a craze during this time and every home had a special wall dedicated to family photos – of weddings, graduations and all the other important events that marked Kenyan lives. My father was often there to capture these moments. He was also known as the photographer most popular with Kenya’s political elite; almost every politician has been captured by him on film.

Here are some of the faces of both well-known and ordinary Kenyans my father painted with his camera. To me, they tell a story that could not be possibly be described in words.