Steven Kefas, born on 22nd of May 1988 in Kenyi village of Kagarko LGA Kaduna State, represents different things to different people. He is a journalist, a social media influencer, an activist and a writer whose activities have created and are still creating huge awareness on the happenings in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State and Nigeria at large. But beyond his activism, his recent interest in nature photography is another life ambition which he is poised to pursue. He speaks to Daily Trust on Sunday on his passion for nature photography and other issues.
At what point did you develop an interest in nature photography?
Until recently, I have never really had an interest in photography but I have discovered that there are a lot of beautiful scenarios especially in the Southern parts of Kaduna that are not really in the public domain.
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I also noticed that a lot of people visit those places but maybe they use smartphones to take photographs. They have not really taken their time to come up with colourful pictures that will make people have interest and see and marvel so I decided that I could be doing this for free. Nobody is paying me, in fact, it is something I do during my leisure time when I don’t have many engagements, I would just travel to any of the communities.
I started around Jema’a Local Government and Jema’a has a lot of beautiful places, beautiful scenes of Fulani settlements, mountains and the likes. When I take these photographs and people see and ask, I say it’s in Southern Kaduna. This was how I started.
And last month, I decided to travel to Gurara. Gurara is a community under Kachia Local Government and in 2001/2002, the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration actually signed a contract for the construction of a Dam.
I have been reading on paper about that project but I have never seen it, there is no much publicity about it on paper. In fact, if you google online, most of the things you hear about Gurara are on the negative side. Either you are hearing about how the community protested, or how the project was stopped. So I decided to go there and see for myself. What I saw there, I lack the right words to describe what I saw in Gurara. It is a beauty to behold. It is a world-class recreational facility for tourists’ attraction.
In fact, it was when I got there I got to know that there are accommodations for tourists: there is a power plant that will generate over 30 megawatts of electricity. There is an irrigation facility, a world-class irrigation facility that extends from that Gurara to the ridge but I don’t have the measurements of the landmass but you could drive for a 50mins stretch and you would not cover the landmass.
Also, all the irrigation facilities have been installed but they are not functional. So when I got to the Dam and I saw the water, I decided to take pictures. When I took the pictures, I looked at it from my camera unedited, I was wowed.
Even when I shared the pictures on social media, a lot of people started chatting me up, asking where is this? I said the place is in Southern Kaduna. A lot of people commented, some dignitaries reached out to me showing interest in the place. I went there without any security and I came back successfully, even though there are security challenges. The whole idea is showcasing the beauty of Southern Kaduna to the world. Whether anybody is paying me or not, I just want to tell the world that we have beautiful scenes in southern Kaduna.
What was the attraction, the appeal it gives when you tell these stories using photography?
The attraction, like after my visit to Gurara, three persons have called to ask if they could go there for vacation. I said yes and linked them up with the authorities because I had a chat with the General Manager in charge of the facility and he told me people could come for vacation. He also told me that the place had been lacking publicity over the years and nobody was talking about it. I started asking myself if it could be politics because I know the place I come from, I know how the government loves social media frenzy but why are they not talking about it and publicizing that place to the world. So I said to myself that if that is something I could do to get traffic to that place. Not just traffic, imagine somebody from Lagos coming for vacation to such a place. A Movie Director said, “So there is a place like this, that place must be good for movie production.” I said yes, it t is a beautiful place, it is in the heart of the forest. So there is no pollution of any sort, it’s just nature: the birds, the animals, that is just what you see.
Apart from what you observed in Southern Kaduna, you must have developed this love for nature. At what point did you begin to develop this love for nature?
That is about seven years ago, around 2013/2014, that was when I started developing huge love for nature. Sometimes, I could travel away from my location, 100km, to a place I don’t even know. As at that time, the insecurity was not as terrible as it is now in the North-West. The North West was peaceful then, I will just travel to maybe Kabomo and I will go to a resort that is in the bush. There is a resort in Kabomo where I would go and stay there for a week sometimes because nature gives me peace and it makes it possible for me to think very well. There is no pollution, no noise, no distractions there, it’s just you and the birds singing and when I hear the birds singing, it helps me to think very well.
Where are some of the places you have visited?
I have also visited Maitsirga waterfall. it’s in Madakiya, also in Southern Kaduna. They call it ‘River wonderful’. It’s another beautiful waterfall where if you go there you will be marvelled. The government has done nothing about it and these are the things that can generate revenue. I have been to Gurara lately, there is a place they call ‘forest’ along Jos road after Kafanchan. They call it forest because all you see there are beautiful long trees. I have been to the Gurara waterfalls in Niger, it’s another beautiful attraction. People go there for a picnic. There are other places I have been to but they are not landmark places, they are just natural forests, fields or mountains. Like in Bwari, two weeks ago, I went hiking in Bwari. You know there is a mountain thereafter Bwari, on that mountain you could see the entire Bwari and you could take pictures. These are some of the places have been to recently.
Where would you say is the best spot you have visited so far?
Guara is the best place I have visited so far.
How do you handle the pictures you snap; do you only post them online?
Social media is one of the best ways of sending messages to the globe, it’s quick and things easily go viral once people start sharing and all and I have huge followership on social media.
What is the major challenge in pursuing this nature photography?
My major challenge so far has been security. Most of these beautiful scenarios you take pictures in are ungoverned spaces. There is no government there, the criminals have taken advantage of the absence of governance around those places and turned them to their camp.
Another challenge is money. If I want to travel to Gurara, getting to a place, the only option you have is taking a bike if you wouldn’t want to drive on the road alone. For the skill, I remember when I went to Gurara with a friend he has a very good smartphone and I said okay. When he saw the pictures he asked, ‘how did you do it’. That is why I didn’t just jump into the field I had to undergo courses on digital photography which have actually helped me to understand the angles in taking pictures that one will really see and say this is beautiful. Those are some of the challenges I have seen so far.
What would be your advice for those who might want to go into this field?
My advice is for people to have passion for it. If you don’t have passion you cannot do it very well. As I said, I have been using my own resources to do it. I have not benefited anything from it but the way people tend to like the photograph, I know that it’s a matter of time. It won’t be for free anymore. A professional travel agent chatted with me on Twitter and told me they wanted to use my photographs in Malaysia. She showed me the proposal and she gave credit to me. So the first thing is to have passion for it, whether there is money or no money, you will still be hoping that someday opportunities can come across you.
What is your favourite Lens for taking pictures?
I have been using D700 and it is a wonderful machine. Most times, I just take the pictures then send it through my WiFi to my phone unedited and I shared. It gives you the real colour and beauty of the pictures.
Are there mentors either locally or across the globe that you admire in this field?
Shockingly, so far I have not really taken time to study professional photographers around the world. I just decided to do my own thing. So far it has been a journey of learning how to take pictures. There was a time I took pictures around Boma, Boma is a Fulani settlement in Jema’a local government. I travelled back as I thought the pictures were not beautiful enough because I’m not that very good but now I think I have improved and I intend to study all photographers around the world probably after my work.
So you were never a professional photographer?
Not at all.
How will you educate people to take better pictures?
It has to do with knowledge. As I said, when I started, I was a novice. If you give me the camera, I didn’t even know how to focus on an object. I had to register for a course and it helped me a lot. Before now, people go to learn photography physically where you take the camera to the studio to go and process, that kind of photography is no longer in existence. Now it’s digital photography, if you check the internet you will see different courses on photography. So let them acquire the basic knowledge they need to understand and know how to operate the camera.
What is your plan, do you hope to build a career around it?
In the next 5 years, I want to be one of the best documentary photographers around.
Having seen how blessed the country is in terms of tourists’ sites which we are not exploring. What would be your advice to the government on turning this to wealth?
The Gurara Dam, for instance, costs the Federal Government over N50 billion, which is huge and it is wasting. Nothing is being generated from it. Even the irrigation facilities there are not yielding money for the government.
My advice to the government is, instead of relying so much on oil, in the next 50 years, the oil may not be that important again. Let’s begin to think about tourism.
You are into so many things. You are a Reporter, a social media activist, a right activist, you are also a facility manager, you are into so many things. How would you describe yourself?
My life is boring. I read Mineral Resources Engineering. Eventually, I found out I love Computer, I went to do HND Computer Engineering. I work in the bank, I have done so many things. Sometimes, I asked myself, ‘are you sure I am not becoming a jack of all trades.’
But the thing is I love everything I do, sometimes when you look at me in the field as a facility manager, you would ask, “this guy again?” I also do it very well. So far, I don’t think I have failed, even though I could have done better than I have done so far. But I think I have been able to streamline what I really want to focus on. The Facility Management Company, a friend is running it because we found it together. Presently what interests me more is investigative reporting and Nature Photography.
Recalling your experience as a political prisoner. How has it shaped your life, definitely some lessons would have been learnt?
It has helped me to overcome one of my greatest challenges as a human being which is fear. Sometimes when I’m travelling, I used to say it is risky but if you know what the Nigerian prison system is, it is riskier in there, people die there. It has really helped me to understand that there are things you are afraid of but they cannot kill you. Then, it has helped me too, in fact, I learnt some of the skills and experience I have acquired in the prison yard. The prison is not entirely a bad place. You see Professors or Military Officers who are there not because they really committed anything criminal but circumstances took them there. So it has really helped me a lot. It has toughened my spirit probably because of the calibre of people I was always with back there. I wasn’t with the hardened criminals.
What is your advice to the youths who are probably nursing fears of how to go about it in life?
My advice to the Nigerian youth is to take their destiny into their own hands. We live in a country where nothing is being given on a platter of gold. You don’t even have the guarantee of getting a job after graduation. Let them begin to create something out of nothing. I have seen youths doing wonderfully well using their smartphones. They should stop waiting for the government, let’s decide the future we want for ourselves.
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