Open Letter To Kaaki

Dear Kaakie,

First time I heard one of your tunes, I didn’t know who the singer was. I just loved the music and enjoyed it as much since the Radio Presenter was happy enough to play it twice. He mentioned you had been a contestant in Stars of the Future and that you did not win, nor make it to the top five yet you have found your way into the limelight. I think that song was Too Much. 

Photography Basics With Steven Adusei

Over the weekend, at one of the Conference Rooms of the African Regent Hotel, mainly amateur photographers were taken through some of the basics of photography. The workshop, organized by award winning photographer, Steven Adusei also had Nana Kofi Acquah, another ace photographer giving practical lectures on creative use of exposure controls, JPEG verses RAW, autofocus verses manual focus and understanding ISO, shutter speed and aperture. 

My Mama Dear

 "This story is not my real story. :-)"

Born by another woman, and brought to marriage by my father, you accepted me, loved me and have been so much of a parent to me. I was only eight and fears were high that you will maltreat me. at that young age, I knew nothing. I did not understand my mother’s admonitions when  my father allowed me to visit her from time to time. She was always bitter, and trying so hard to get me to be rude to you. according to her, any act of correction from you was equal to maltreatment. I tried to tell her you were good to me, but she never really had ears for my little voice. 

Shapes In The Office

They are everywhere, in every office, every corner. They are there, plain and nice. When you step into the office, they are usually the first ones to approach you with friendship. Mostly they will portray themselves as the best friends you could have in the office and tell you about others. As soon as you say something, they will report on you. Mostly they are so preoccupied with others that it seems they are paid to snitch on other people. 

As Mother's Day Approaches. . .

The stories will flow. The mothers will be celebrated everywhere, in every corner, church, home and the media will definitely look at making money off this celebration, while ensuring that some “deserving” mothers win prizes.

It is good to celebrate mothers, and people in general who are responsible. Yet, the stories of biological mothers who had had to run over themselves to ensure their children got an education, to took them away from an abusive man, or sold her entire wardrobe to ensure her children ate never gets to me. I say never because 

I Sleep Around. . .

(This piece was inspired by knowing more on the effects of rape and defilement in children)

Oh I got your attention ha? What? You wish you had read wrongly? No, you didn’t. I sleep around, like really, seriously. See, it is my favorite fun activity and I must admit I enjoy it a whole lot, you have no idea. 

I am currently twenty two years, just done with my university education and my parents are so proud.

Three Years Of Viasat One

With the brightest screen quality, they launched themselves onto our television screens and into our homes some few years back and wowed a ,lot of us. They promised to deliver quality entertainment and surely they have lived up to expectation.

The Church Announcement

“There will be a Youth, Men and Women’s Fellowship meetings on Monday evening at 7.30pm. The Singing Band and Choir will meet on Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm and Saturday at 5.30pm. There will be the usual mid week service on Wednesday at 6.30pm. On Friday there will be an all night service from 10pm. On the same Friday, we will have our morning prayers from 8am. From Monday to Friday there will be the usual morning devotions from 5am each day.’

Click! Shutter!! Bobbie!!!

Emmauel Bobbie

I am not good at pin pointing. And because of that I have become a serious lover of Emmanuel Bobbie’s works, to the extent that I can recognize his works just about anytime yet I do not know how he achieves that. Is it because of his composition? Or his love for bright and somewhat contrasting colors? Or the fact that he is able to take snapshots of places in Ghana and make them look so surreal. He will take a shot of the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange, publish it on Facebook and have people ask him where that is! He will say it is the Tetteh Quarshie interchange, and that he went up the Villagio Appartments to take the shots and the next comment will be, “how come I have always used Tetteh Quarshie Interchange and yet this looks so different?” Trust Emmanuel Bobbie to make Ghana’s landscape look so inviting.

I got charmed, for lack of a better word, with his works which he had published on Facebook.  I loved them to bits and I would usually tell Nana Kwadwo Duah of Oxygen that I love how Emmanuel is able to make sharp, bright and contrasting colors look so super cool in a given space. I was fascinated and wanted to know more about him, his works.

(Landscapes in Ghana)

One day, while chatting on Facebook with him, he mentioned that he has a shoot that Friday so if I can make it, I can come see him at work. This was after I had mention to him that I would love to witness him work. I got to the venue and had the chance of witnessing him and his “light man”, King George at work. I watched them set up, tripods and light equipment and checking the brightness as against using a filter or not. As they did all these checks, they kept mentioning some figures and taking test shots as they went along. The next series of shots involved adult and child models. The child models were a delightful pain to work with yet Bobbie found his way around them.

Sunset at Sea-Men drawing their fishing net

Through the shooting, we kept mild conversations. While moving from one venue to the other, he got us waakye from Katawudieso at Nyaniba. Through talks, I got to know that he worships with the Church of Pentecost with his wife and kids. He hardly goes out after 8 pm and the surprise of all was that he is a very shy man. So shy that when one of the ladies wanted to take a picture with him, his countenance changed instantly. The shot that was captured showed a man whose facial expressions were that of someone almost under duress.

A graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Emmanuel had his ‘O’ level certificate from the Odorgonno Senior High School and his ‘A’ level certificate from the Abuakwa State College. He sojourned to the United Kingdom and decided to come back to Ghana, pick up a camera and do magic with it for a living.

Amongst the professional photographers I have spoken with, Emmanuel has come up on the lips of many as one they admire. He has shot a lot of models and has a lot of corporate clients to his credit. He loves to travel around the country, taking shots and presenting Ghana in a very beautiful way. Some of the pictures get people to doubt him all because while we see a bare Afram Plains, Bobbie sees a beautiful landscape on the outskirts of Accra, much different from how we have all seen it all this while.

 

He is a lovely man to chat with, and you can go to Facebook and search for Emmanuel Bobbie. Whether through his personal profile page or business page, send him a message and be sure to get a reply from this photo magician!

FORGIVENESS, WEEDS AND LEAVES

Whenever we set off to pray, we have to forgive all those who have caused us bitterness. This is mandatory, for a part of the model prayer says “and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who trespass against us.”
Tis true that our human nature makes it difficult sometimes to forgive and to forget. But the God in us should make it easy. Sometimes, some people hurt us and we are able to easily forgive them and move on. Such people are needed by us as much as they need us. Let us consider ourselves as a tree.