Laba Street Art Fest

Its Kampala, Uganda and its the Laba!

The show was amazing and the people full of energy. I wanted to post this images while in Uganda, but time was not on my side with the tight schedule of events I had on me. Above all, the travel in Uganda was worth it and i cannot shy away to say and thank all the wonderful people that hosted me while in this beautiful country.

But here are some of the images I thought might interest you the viewers across all the corners of the world.

With its motto “Open Studio”, the LaBa ArtsFestival ’s seventh edition aim was to give visitors the opportunity for a look behind the scenes, in the art making process. The process of artistic production is important here, not just the finished product.

But the creative bunch of around 60 individual artists were merely not working while the others can watch them, but engaged the public in their projects, designed just for the day.

The organizers added the element of the fashion parade that attracted a huge crowd of participants including the above models who chose to include the dog in the parade. A lot of glamour and passion for fashion.

These men choose to have an installation of the big balls moving up and down in the air as they kept moving. Its an art group from the region of Kampala. I basically tried to understand their installation but somehow i got lost. Above all, the group impressed the people who came over.

Her performance was full of energy and moved the crowd to the top. I wish i had a better way of elaborating this but the image will do the talking for me.

She marveled and charmed the crowd all the way from the start to the end. Uganda has got talent indeed and this was only happening at the Laba street art festival.

The music stage featured newcomers and some of Uganda’s finest artists of various music genres, adding on to the general diversity of the festival – Mackinnon Road which remained closed for the rest of the day was both dream, glamour and dance.

Her name is Efi and she is full of wonders and passion for her artistic gift. She was the Mcee as well as a musician who is full of determination.

I love this photo. Not for because some awesome moment at a concert. It’s just a clean, sharp picture and that was really hard to get at the greatly crowded place that rarely allowed me to move around at the venue.

The end of the show came, hours after midnight and it was time for me to say goodbye. I hope to photograph the next Laba street art festival and am more than excited to all the wonderful people I got to interact with. Blessings

Photos: Joe Lukhovi

Location: Kampala, Uganda

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Nairobi’s Concert

Concert photography is a great field to take on but it surely has its own challenges, which on most occasions may appear not to be real in whatever way. It took a while before I could be able to do this kind of thing. Maybe it comes with time and now it is based on the kind of style one needs to associate with. This far, I have come to appreciate what concerts have to offer and it has been my kind of style. Am liking every little moment of it.

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Photography :: Joe Lukhovi

Kama si sisi

I admit it, whenever I pull a festival assignment I piss and moan with the best of them. The days are long, the photographic gear is heavy, the food sometimes sucks, and something expensive always ends up covered in in dirt in something cheap and sticky. All this in a day but this is what life is.

Yet despite all this, there’s a rare and beautiful part of music that only exists at festivals, but despite all that I was glad to take up this assignment Kama si sisi organizer’s reached me. Am a great fun of Juliani and i totally support the cause.

Here are some of my favorite shots from my recent shoot with Juliani. This photo was taken amongst dozens of equipment and the falling sun that were to be transformed into musical art installations as part of the project.Kama si sisi is a public musical and society project founded by the artist that places in the local areas of urban estates throughout the public spaces of Nairobi City.

Kama si sisi is an amazing non-profit organization that mobilizes the local artists and youth to be liable in the society and enhance best practices as per its mandate. One of a kind attitude change initiative that encourage the youth to be actively involved in the Political, Economical, Social agenda in their community and country at large. All this is aimed to develop and benefit the society.

Kama si sisi is a conviction,a commitment to the all the youth to leave their surrounding better than they found it. If you’re an artist(visual/audio) interested in making a difference, you should definitely learn more about kama si sisi. It’s a curious mood. 

Photography :: Joe Lukhovi

Nairobi, Kenya

NDOTO

It’s summer time and you know what that means. It’s the time of year when music festivals and concerts are in full swing. They provide great opportunities to create some amazing images. All you need to understand is the skill of  how to work with the lighting available and you are good to go. This time round, I joined the band and made it to the NDOTO show at the Safaricom centre by the Lele and Aziza band.

Shooting concerts has helped me learn more about how I see, and to develop my vision. Through shooting regularly, I’ve been able to find my style, and to hone in on the type of lighting scenarios I enjoy having in front of my lenses the most. I’ve learned where to position the camera in relation to the light to get certain effects, like lens flare, in shots.

It’s taught me how to tweak settings in post production to get the most impact out of the images. It’s opened my eyes to complementing and contrasting colors. To the impact of showing a full range of coverage, from close-up detail shots to wide coverage… The list goes on. Just like NDOTO, I feel like my dreams are almost coming to view.

Fast forward a couple years to today. I still love concert photography, and plan on continuing to do it. But this year I’m going making an effort to transition more into portrait photography. That doesn’t mean I won’t be bringing part of my concert photography with me, however.

Through honing my vision, I hope to bring a unique take on portraiture. By translating certain aspects from the stage to the studio, I plan on exploring new possibilities (to me anyway) in portrait photography.

Thanks to all the lessons learned above, I have ideas moving  around loosely in good faith in my head that I’m noodling on, trying to figure out how that transformation is going to look like. All in all I loved the show and the outcome as well. Waiting eagerly to take on my next assignment.

Photography by Joe Lukhovi

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