Ollie Adegboye

0:09 I'm Ollie Adegboye I'm a photographer based here in London and amongst other things I really enjoy making portraits here's some of my work I'm here today to talk about my project and first book bbba father between 2021 and 2023 I photographed over 60 black fathers and their children I started the project because of a conversation I had with some of my oldest friends in the summer of 2020 about 7 months before I became a dad myself we were all at my place talking about everything and nothing at some point the conversation turned to Family Life a few of them had already already had kids and a couple were just weeks away from meeting their first borns I realized it was the first time I'd heard black men speaking honestly and openly about their roles as fathers and raising a family as youngish black men in 2020 and it stuck with me I felt like I wanted to keep this conversation going and this naturally progressed into photographing these guys with their kids the criteria for my subjects was simple do you identify as a black man and do you have kids I pulled together a spreadsheet of everyone I knew who fit that criteria friends friends of friends friends Partners people from IG strangers who I had mutual friends with and even some Street castings Outreach was simple I laid out the project and showed them some of what I had already shot and with the exception of only a few people I was fortunate that everyone I approached was more than happy to be a part of this project the trickiest part was The Balancing Act of scheduling so many people some people took months to secure and some shoots just didn't happen because we couldn't connect there were work emergencies bad weather and multiple cases of chickenpox in terms of the process of shooting as mentioned I didn't know some of these guys so I'd spend some time getting to know them their jobs their families and their thoughts on raising black kids in London which is great for getting them comfortable in front of me and the children comfortable around me. And in front of the camera conversation became an important part of the process when I approached this project I wanted to I wanted to get three things right lighting composition and of course working with children I'll start with the children because there's not a lot to say to be honest before the first few portraits I had a gra I had Grand ideas of how I wanted to photograph everyone but then I learned quickly that there's not a lot to consider when shooting children particularly babies and Restless toddlers I couldn't always just show up. And I had to be patient I had to catch them after nap time or only on a Friday morning or before danceing class so I'd share my idea with the dad and where small or even neuro neurod divergent kids were involved they would tell me how long they think I'd have to get what I needed I used manual focus cameras which slowed down the process a bit and meant sometimes my time was even more limited to be honest I was also fortunate to be working with a bunch of laid-back parents who had all produced very well behaved children the moms would help me Wrangle the kids and provide snacks I also relied on other things like letting them look into my camera and explaining the process to them as best as you can to a small child also cocoa melon another thing I had to consider was posing with small babies the fathers with you know really small young babies and newborns weren't always the most naturally posed and sometimes it felt a bit awkward or stiff and I have personal experience of how awkward it can feel to hold a baby when you're new to it and you're hyper aware of the camera in your face we tried different positions until we found one that felt and looked relaxed let me talk about lighting now from a technical perspective I kept everything quite simple I shot with one or two medium format cameras a compax Flash and a bunch of diffusers and reflectors I really wanted to nail lighting because I kind of felt like it was my duty as a photographer to present these black men in a way that does Justice to their skin with such a wide variety of skin tones in most cases and where possible I wanted to shoot in their home and on location somewhere nearby using flash daylight or both so where.

4:40 I was shooting indoors with only flash I tried to minimize too many highlights on the face I used a lot of diffusion and bounce off of reflectors and ceilings to keep everything soft but still with a bunch a bit of punch and contrast if the weather was right if the weather was good and the light was right I'd find a window that could sit near so I could play with the depth of the image as well as the balance of highlights versus Shadows on the face on the face this image is a good example of lighting and I guess timing I'd lowkey been putting off shooting my friend bow because I live in North London and while we were trying to find time to shoot he moved down to Coden one day he posted an image on his story. And it was time stamp 7:15 in the morning I saw the Morning Light he got through a first floor window and locked in a shoot date immediately knowing exactly what I wanted to do I was almost desperate to capture that sort of light so I made my way South by bus tube and tram to his house and we shot and wrapped by 8:00 a.m. On location things were a bit easier and we'd often just go for a walk before shooting I'll get their address and Scout the area via Google street view for options as anyone would I was constantly monitoring the weather and using a sun track app before shoot terrified of weekend rain in regards to composition and movement I had a few references but didn't rely on them too heavy heavily I wanted the dads to feel comfortable and not overp posed but about halfway through the project I was making up contact sheets of everyone I' everything I'd shot so far which was constantly review which I was constantly reviewing to ensure sufficient variety nothing was set in stone but for some subjects I had an idea for them before they'd even agreed to shoot for example I knew I wanted to include Vehicles as props because everyone looks cool sitting on bikes and cars also I didn't ask them to wear matching jackets they just bought them new for the shoot which was perfect some guys gave me everything with little or no direction and that was just amazing and some hadn't been photographed like this before and they were quite nervous and almost turned it down because they didn't want to be in front of the camera particularly with their kids and so they needed a bit more Direction and eventually they settled into the moment I even had the opportunity to capture touching interactions between father and child sometimes my idea was dictated by the circumstance most of the dads gave me about 2 or 3 hours in or out of their home. And some only had 45 minutes on road on a Friday night before they had to go out but regardless I established Direction and location within those limitations and even though we had to fight Wind and Rain from the moment we started shooting I only made the tiniest adjustments because I felt I'd got what I came for and even though the project isn't really about the kids sometimes it felt right to make them the star of the image so once I'd exhausted the list of people I could shoot and people stopped texting me back I got into the final selection and with this came hand printing everything alongside the lighting this was super important for me in making sure everything looked exactly how I wanted it to at the beginning when I was getting my scans back I'd make a selection of two or three images on the spot just off of what felt the strongest as soon as as as I shot more work and started to lay images out next to each other I I was starting to get a better feel for what worked well for this body of images of course I've built relationship with a lot of these guys so I was also Keen to make sure that the image was one that made look made them look good and they would be proud of proud of ultimately I decided that each dad would live on their own spread as if to give them their own moment and let the viewer taken each person one at a time it also felt write for the pace of the book and the final result I designed and edited the book myself with a lot of help from a few very talented close friends I I won't go into too much detail about the design of the book.

9:14 But the photo on the cover of is of me and my dad a nod to Old School family photo albums it was truly a pleasure and a joy to connect with all these amazing men and if you happen to pick up a copy wink wink I hope you enjoy looking at these images as much as I did making them thank you for your time