Emiliano Joanes
Have camera, will shoot
I was born in Nairobi and
studied at the Dr Ribeiro Goan School. I taught myself
photography, overcoming the setbacks that came along the way. Colour
photography was new then and had not arrived in Kenya. I applied to
study Colour Photography at the Germain School of Photography in New York.
To my surprise, I was granted a scholarship. It was an 18-month course right
in midtown Manhattan. I passed with flying colours.
Two Masai women collect water while their mules wait patiently in the hot sun to carry the water to the village (boma)
I wanted to get into
photojournalism by working for the English newspaper, the East African
Standard but it meant asking God to change my skin pigmentation. However, I
decided to take sports pictures of the English playing rugby, cricket, and
soccer.
Fortunately, for me, the
newspaper showed English sports taking place on a weekend.
I went to the club on Ngong
Road where a rugby match was in progress. From the road, I looked to see if
there was a photographer taking pictures. No one. I moved close to the field.
The good thing about
rugby one can get bags of action shots. I had no clue how the game was played.
What captured my imagination were the moments when the players formed a circle
bending, facing the ground clinging to each with the ball hidden between their arms
and chests.
Next thing you knew the
circle exploded like an atomic mushroom with the ball tossed high in the sky
with the players making a grab for it. I aimed for that picture, got it,
besides other midfield action shots, went home, set up the darkroom in the
bathroom. I printed three action shots one was the circle that I came to know
later was called the “scrum.”
On Sunday, I presented
my pictures to John Downes the Sports Editor who introduced himself to me and later
said, “Did you take these pictures?” I replied yes. He looked at the pictures
again and the contact sheet and asked again, “Did you take these pictures?”
Again, I spoke the truth, but I added, “I could not write the captions and I
did not know how the game was played.” By this time, I was prepared to swear on
the Bible that I did take the pictures. “Leave it to me,” he said. The prints and
contact sheet were curling because I had hung them on the clothesline to dry.
The next day, I saw my
picture of the scrum on the sports page of the East African Standard.
I did a cricket match
the following weekend. After that, at a soccer match. When I saw an East
African Standard photographer, I made a complete U-turn and headed
home.
John Downes told me
that in the future he would tell me what sports event he wanted me to cover. He
also gave me a letter to show to anyone who would not allow me to take pictures.
The best part of it was to hand him the film that was processed in the newspaper
darkroom. That was a relief!
A couple of months
later, I received a letter from Kenneth Bolton, the editor asking if would I be
interested in joining the photographic team and if so, to go for an interview
with John Perry, The Chief Photographer. As the saying goes, next it was
history.
Working among a sea of
white journalists was challenging. I assumed that they wanted to see If I met
the challenge. I did better.
Two years down the
road, I had two pictures in the World Press Photo competition on a photo essay
I did on a drought in a Masai village. I also had a picture in the British
Press Pictures of the Year competition an essay on ostriches in the Nairobi
National Park.
What I found amusing
was my picture of the Nairobi University student riots that I entered in the Pravda
newspaper that won a prize – 500 rubbles. The picture was of mounted police
raising the front hoofs of his horse that I shot of the students between the
legs of the horse. I think this was more for propaganda that the photo was
selected.
Africanization was in
full force at the newspaper. All the English reporters and editors left.
I left the newspaper
and emigrated to Canada when I could hear the drums of Uhuru playing in the
distant horizon.
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