Back here in Nigeria, these nomadic tribe are not known so much for their emotions: their ambitions or their fears. The age long spates of clashes and attacks perpetuated by the Fulani herdsmen has left many (especially in the southern part of the country) considering these ones as barbarians who care for nothing other than their herds, who will slaughter human lives to spare their livestock. The media is awash with news of such attacks, especially in Benue State.
In my years of living I have grown to know that 200/100 of the times one would be wrong to box any group and give them a universal character. We grew up to fear these herdsmen, who don't seem to care for anything whatsoever. Then I met one who looked different... because I cared to look.
On this fateful day I was out taking pictures of students who just graduated and were doing the one year compulsory national service. Yeah, they are easy to tell from others because they have uniforms. I saw this herdsman who was in charge of a herd nearby. He walked by with his flock and observed our session. This time not as some zombie who didn't care about anything, as we have known them to be; but rather with hunger in his eye, and excitement on his sleeves. He stared in admiration at these fresh graduates. I dare say I saw a hunger in him that needed a university degree to quench. I asked him for a portrait and he obliged, with excitement. I showed him the photo on my camera LCD and he was glowing with excitement. How beautiful!
That's the story of this portrait, and I needed to tell it to give enough context to establish that this is A WHOLE LOT OF emotions in one frame. I mean this is not how long it took to get to 62MPH, but how far away into negative 0 that the speed pointer was at. I hope that makes any sense.
So, there's my first entry into the Portrait Photography Contest. And, yes, this is 100% original work. I posted a variant version from the same session on my instagram account many moons ago. I hope you love it. If you do, please follow for more.
Image taken with a Fujifilm X-T20 w/ Fujinon 23mm F2 lens
P.S. I just thought of it, why not add a couple other pictures from this session, because... why not?
I want to go... I want to stay. Oh wait! I have to go, because the cows...
Mooooooooow!
Howdy sir misterakpan! that is such a powerful story! When you look in that herdsman's eyes you don't see a cold-blooded killer. Great photos and great job of getting to know one of the herdsman a little. It would be interesting to hear his side of the story.
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Thank you, sir janton! I really appreciate the kind words. Yeah, I made effort to get in touch with the herdsman at least one time, if not anything to deliver him a printed portrait for keepsake. That went unsuccessfully. It's a brilliant idea to attempt to hear their stories. If anything stems from that, I will make sure to let you know. Thanks again for stopping by 🙂
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Howdy sir misterakpan! I hope you can do some posts about them, it's such an interesting topic. Thanks so much and God bless you!
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