#Monomad Challenge || African Ninja

Pablo Picasso coined a quote that goes thus:

Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.

This was my exact situation that Sunday afternoon before these images were created.

Treasure (the young man in the images) is my closest pal. We've been friends for the longest time. Right from childhood, we've always done things together; we attended the same school, church, and department in church, always visited each other, etc.

I've always wanted to create a "Wild West-themed" shoot and on that fateful Sunday afternoon, I decided to create it no matter the odds. I discussed the idea I had with Treasure after church service. He was excited about it. We went to his house and started looking for outfits to work with.

We knew we needed a hat, a trench coat, a staff, and also a horse. It looked daunting at first; where could we get all these under short notice? We asked everyone in his house for a hat but no one had one. We already knew no one had a trench coat so we substituted it with a tuxedo - his dad's tuxedo.

Determination was the driving force here; we were determined to create that day. Next on our list was a staff. We just ruled that out as we couldn't get one. Also, getting a horse was a reach as we were on a budget. Nevertheless, we set out to my house to source more outfits.

My house was a stone's throw from his so we got there in about 5 minutes walk. We got a hat there, and also got a high stool. I packed my gear and we headed to the designated location. The planned location was a football pitch close to my house.

As the photographer, I wasn't sure of how the images would turn out. Yes, I already had an image of what I wanted to create but I wasn't still sure of what to expect. We got to the location in the evening. It was already sunset and we quickly started setting up. I had an assistant with me by the way.

Treasure was good with poses and the images were coming out well. I was really happy. Working with what was available, we were able to create these high-contrast monochromes. Presenting them for the #monomad challenge gives me a blissful feeling.