Meet Efiom
Meet Efiom. Efiom Married Nina twice! Once in the village of Dikenafai and once in Calabar. This portrait was made after their Igba Nkwu ceremony at Nina’s parents’ place in Dikenafai. Most of what I’ve photographed in Nigeria has been of the Igbo tribe, which Nina is a part of. Efiom is Efik. His attire was a little, um, different than traditional Igbo wedding day attire. It was explained to me that some their attire is influenced by early European colonialism. The first outfit he wore really kind of reminded me of something you’d see at a Mardi Gras celebration. Know what I mean?
In order to do these after-ceremony portraits without the many hired and spec shooters ruining everything, we had to sneak out the back of the house and take some back pathways to this location. Seriously, it’s nuts with the photographers. They are all over the place. Getting used to them makes dealing with the occasional “Uncle Bob” a piece of cake. Here is a shot of JUST A FEW of the photographers and videographers there who, according to one of them, was going to “show me up” in the photo department. This doesn’t make for a great environment to do really great work. It’s tough, but possible.
These photographers and videographers very much behave in a vulture/pack system. They are always right on top of the action, shoulder to shoulder, and that makes it very difficult to vary position and get different shots without getting them right smack in the middle of the shot. I can’t begrudge them their work. They are welcome at these ceremonies, and they are just trying to survive like everyone else there. I just have to be more vigilant, aggressive and on-point when it comes to shooting these. I’m always amazed at how much I do come away with without having all these photographers front and center in these photos.
This was my first experience with Efik folk and their customs. Part of what comes with this group is the very interesting Ekpe masquerade as seen in my photo below. Seriously, it was right at 100ºF the entire time I was there, and I cannot imagine how hot it is in one of these suits!
Handsome dude, gorgeous bride. They are going to have some seriously good looking kids. I hope they can one day come to Atlanta so I can see them again, or one day I can go back and meet up with them.
Posted on April 24th, 2009 by Climie
Filed under: Behind the Image, Destination: Nigeria, Fun Photos, Nigerian - Igbo - Efik
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