Eko hotel rooftop - light painting

dragon cloud over Victoria Island

Despite the economic difficulties: the strong and hard-to-find dollar, the falling naira, the Niger Delta Avengers successful attempt to cut down the oil production by blowing up pipelines; Lagos goes on building-up further. New places mushroom and others disappear like the cool Seaside, which was set-up on land belonging to Lagos State and recently flattened by bull-dozers.
A new place is born, sort of consolation for the amateurs of fresh air: the Eko hotel rooftop which offers breathtaking views over the ocean, the upcoming Eko Atlantik and Victoria Island.
A great place which locals tend not to like because the breeze is too strong. The music is not too loud.
As the night comes, city lights are filling-up the air inviting to some photographic experiment, this time round the light painting option of my new phone camera.

Nestoil, the latest skyscraper in town

VI colours

Adetokunbo Ademola street

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The Ogiamien family in Benin City: about wood and history

Roland Ogiamien in his wood-carving workshop Wood Roland Ogiamien is a renown wood carver. He is now retired in his home town of Benin City and is now in his 80s. We met him in his simple workshop, a barn opened on the surrounding greenery. A part of the studio is used to store wood pieces and make sure they are well dried. He is using a collection of german ustensils to carve and polish the wood. He spent most of his career working out of Lagos before relocating to Benin. Roland was explaining that the wood he uses today is different that the one he worked on in his early days. Ebony has become rare and wood carvers have had to switch to other types of wood. Traditional heritage is a large part of his inspiration which he translates on wood with his own particular style, exploring various techniques for the finish of his pieces. Roland Ogiamien and two of his favourite masks History Ogiamien is the name of an important royal family in Benin Kingdom. Towards the end of the

The mysterious stones images of Esie

turned into Stones Chief J. Agbo Ooye had been waiting in the shade of a large tree, in front of the National Museum of Esie, dressed in ceremonial costume with a velvet hat incrusted with crystal beads sown in the shape of his title and his name. He was sitting next to his wife on a bench, expecting our arrival. His wife, he would tell us later, was his best friend and she was actually demonstrating it by guiding his frail body from one place to another and guiding his hand when it came to sign autographs of his books. Chief Agbo Ooye is the author of two booklets on the Esie Stones. The first one, called A Personal Account of the Esie Stones is giving an overview of the differences between the scientific and the traditional interpretation of the Esie Stones. The second one is called the History of Esie and gives a brief account of Esie's history from the early settlement of Yorubas in various groups (Esie, Oro, Eku Apa, Igbonla, Edidi, Igbesi, etc...) to the present day. Thos

The Arala of Benin Kingdom and his large family music band

High Chief Arala of Benin Kingdom, Prince S.B. Omo Lawal Osula At the intersection of two potholed market streets in the heart of Benin City, somewhere along Lagos street, stood three marquees. Two of them were covering rows of plastic chairs and a plastic table for special guests. The third one was covering a wooden stage with numerous microphone booms. A band was getting ready to play. The setup was facing the house of the Arala, a High Chief of Benin City. In front of the house painted in orange was a wooden bank on which traditional percussionists would seat later on. Seated guests were waiting for the Arala himself. The Arala had come out, dressed in a salmon-pink suit and red loafers, to welcome us personally upon our arrival while we parked next to the marquees. He is a man of small stature but fit and lively for his age (he is in his mid seventies). The Arala runs an NGO to help international organisations fund rural education projects around Benin city. The NGO spares the

Nigeria, the land of plenty

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