Daily Dispatches

Vox Nairobi | 2

Name  – Peter Olendo

Age – 59

Work – Photographer, Lens Image Creation Center

Lives – Kibera

KIBERA, April 10, 2011 (Daily Dispatches) – Peter Olendo talks to Mike Pflanz about his business as a studio photographer – his first camera, the advent of digital photography, and never forgetting a customer’s legs.

“People here, they don’t like natural pictures, they like a formal portrait, nice clothes, nice shoes, their hair straightened. Their collar if it is bent a bit they will not pay for the photo. They want to see their legs in the picture as well, not only their face.

“If you take the face and you cut out their legs, they say you have not done it right. They say, “I came to your shop with my legs and you have cut me halfway. I wanted to see my shoes, where are my shoes”, they ask. Then you are in trouble. Eh, they might not even pay you!

“Here in my studio I have different backgrounds which I can pull out for people to stand in front for their picture. Even though you are in this small room, I can make a picture showing you in Nairobi city, in a church, in Rift Valley, with the mountains. I can show you in a tea plantation.

“On this side I can take you to the coast, you can see the ocean, canoes, people buzzing on the beach, it’s all there, just in this one room. I can even put a different carpet, maybe green for grass, you may not know that this was taken inside.

“I also keep ties here, different colors to match different suits, for people who don’t have a tie. Clip-on ties even, for those who have no time to waste. You can be assured that you are now looking fit for your photograph.

Peter Olendo keeps a variety of ties for his customers to borrow

“I started with photography when I was in school. I bought a camera, a Linda Super Lens, for 25 shillings. My first photo was of my Catholic priest. I had cut off his legs, in some pictures I cut out his head, but even so I was very excited when I saw my first prints. I never knew I would become a photographer in the long run.

“I have learnt photography, I am trained, a professional. I’ve taught people in laboratories, in studios, printing and all that, many now have their own businesses. This attitude of somebody saying photography is something you do not learn, I can rule that out. Even if you don’t go to a classroom, you have to be taught.

“These cameras which do everything by themselves, you can pick them up and call yourself a photographer, but you are far back behind. Really, you know nothing.

“With digital photography today, things have become simple. But I find it’s like it’s fooling people. Should there be a problem, would you know what to do? I can say I’m lucky to have known the basics in the original photography, film processing, manual cameras, everything like that.

“Nowadays, I have to struggle, I depend on walk-in customers, but in the digital world today, most people are doing their own things on their computers at home. If they come to your shop, lucky you. You can get only two or three customers in a day. That cannot sustain you. I’m supporting my whole family, it’s quite a big family. There are seven children and many grandchildren. I am the one responsible.

Peter Olendo with his wife Teresa Atieno, who is also a photographer

“Also I have had some problems. I lost my job in a professional laboratory a long time ago, during a coup here in Kenya when I found I was unable to get to work. And then when we had violence after the election in 2007, my studio was burnt to ashes. I had a complete studio with dark room, printers, enlargers, all my cameras, frames, imported and local. I had a very big stock. I lost something like $3,500 of stock. That fighting, I can say it was hell on earth, we thought the end times had come.

“But thank God we’re still alive. It’s been very hard to rebuild. It’s like I’m just starting, like I never existed before. You can see the kind of camera I’m using, it’s a Pentax K1000 from so long ago. Look at the flash that I am having, it’s tied together with string. I have a long way to go to get back to where I was before.

“If I had some more money, I would go fully digital, I would try to find some businesses outside of my studio, marketing myself, I could talk to schools or colleges to offer them the kinds of services they need. I have a bank account, but it’s reading zero. If you have some money which is floating in and out then you can be confident going to ask for a loan. But I don’t have that.

“It’s not easy for a good business to be lifted from here. This place is prone to wars, each time there are elections you are just worried. Even I want to move from here to somewhere spacious in town. If you mention your business is in Kibera, everybody thinks, no sir, that’s a no-go zone.

“Here, I feel like someone swimming in the sea and you are not very sure if you will reach the other side. If my shop was in town, I’d be on dry land, standing on a firm foundation, not shaky as I feel here.”

Slideshow

Related: Brendan’s full-size images from Peter’s studio

© DAILY DISPATCHES: Nairobi 2011

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 10th, 2011 at 3:35 pm. It is filed under Features, Working. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.