Brendan Bannon
2011
Lens Photo Studio, Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya.
[Daily Dispatches - Vx Nairobi 2]

Colour photograph
Provided by the artist - Brendan Bannon
Peter Otieno Olendo bought his first camera as a schoolboy in Nairobi. "My first picture was of a priest. I was so happy to see that picture. I didn't even mind that I'd cut off half of his head in the frame."
 
After a coup in 1982 made it impossible for him to reach his job as manager of a photo lab he began his own shop serving the residents of Kibera. That shop and all of its contents was burned to the ground in 2008 during the post-election violence. "It has been 3 years and I am slowly building my way back," he said. He shoots passport pictures and portraits from his Kibera studio, often using an old Pentax K1000 camera.
 
"When making a picture you have to include the feet. If people can't see their feet they might not pay you. They might say "I came in here with feet and you've forgotten them. This picture is no good.' "
 
For context Mike Pflanz interviewed Peter Olendo, Aged 59, Photographer, Lens Image Creation Center, Kibera, Kenya
(Accessed: 8 May 2015)
Vox Nairobi | 2
 
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