Storytelling is an activity of sharing stories as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values. There are different approaches to storytelling beyond words, one of which is photography.

Picture they say is worth a thousand words. You can either use a series of pictures or a single image to tell a story and that is just how storytelling with photography happens.

Valerie Oguchi a commercial photographer and founder of Lazy & co was on Dreamcity with Tobore to talk about how pictures can tell stories and her transition from skincare to being a professional photographer.

Valerie specializes in product photography and has worked with over 50 brands on product photography.

Simply put, Product photography is just taking the picture of a product. Product photography is arguably the most sought-after form of photography now because of the trend in digital marketing and online businesses. Product photography is a saturated market like human photography, it could be a tough time for a newcomer to find a place. One could be charged up to a million naira to learn the art of photography.

Product photography is basically taking pictures of a product either in use or stationery for social media posts or other reasons. There is a difference between the picture taken by a product photographer and that of a regular photographer because of the art involved. The difference between a picture taken by a human photographer and a product photographer is known by instinct, only a professional photographer would easily see what could have been done better.

Valerie had always loved and had interest in photography, this made it easy for her to take pictures of her skincare products to put online. People captivated by her pictures advised that she take pictures of products for other people too; that’s how she found herself in product photography. Photography is now both her hobby and her business. It excites her to see some of her works feature on a billboard and sometimes scream.

As far back as 2019, she started with just her iPhone 6 at a time there weren’t so much of product photographers. She said the growth of product photography has been made popular and more needed because people buy things online and a good picture of the product online is needed to attract sales. But there is the need for more product photographers in Nigeria.

Human Photographers cannot take pictures the same way as product photographers because of the art involved. In the digital age and time we are in, the product photography market has grown.

Most people contact prominent photographers instead of those who specialize in that area. There are people who are human and product photographers but there are things a product photographer will see about the product that will not be seen by the human photographer who has been used to taking human pictures.

Product photography is more streamlined, you may not need so much of extra tools unlike dealing in human photography. You can use the same tool, or gadget for all products compared to human photography where you may require new tools to get specific effects.

Different photographers work differently, you could alter whatever happens in real life through editing. There’s fun in taking pictures and it takes less time but posting your picture comes with extra work in terms of editing. You even need modifiers.

As good as you can alter realities through editing, you can’t do too much to make a product of less quality better, it won’t do well to have a product of #50 look like #5000.

While working on your pictures, do not be afraid of colours, know where you draw inspiration from and consider who you are working with. Master your colours and always work with the client’s colours.

Clients may come with bizarre colours, take their preferences, know the company’s colours and make suggestions, you can still give them what they want if they insist.

Though sometimes she does lifestyle photography with humans involved, Valerie does not see herself as a human photographer.

Product photography and photography at large could be taken up as a career by anyone because no degree is needed. There are not so many people into product photography presently according to Valerie.

Valerie enjoyed being a stylist, she however said being a photographer and a stylist are far different. She loves being a photographer more. She wants to put Nigerian product photography on the world map.

‘If you take photography as a business, being relaxed is not an option, you force yourself to work to get money and avoid client trouble. You need to find what motivates you as a creative (photographer)’, she advised.