For five years, Busola was simply
known as wife of famous soul music singer, Timi Dakolo. Now she is set
to embrace the limelight, exploring her passion for celebrity
photography. Funke Olaode reports
For sometime, Busola has been dwarfed
under the towering image of her famous entertainer husband, Timi Dakolo.
Whatever she did or did not do was subsumed. Even when they are
together in the public, the spotlight was on him. This didn’t quite
bother her. If truth be told, she loves being
Timi’s wife and would be
satisfied to play that role only because when it is combined with caring
for her three children becomes very demanding. So, at no time did Mrs.
Busola Timi-Dakolo harbor the ill-thoughts of competing for attention
with her husband. She had her plans. First, the children had to reach
age. Then she would feel justified to come into herself. For the better
part of her five-year marriage, she has been in the background as an
entrepreneur selling hair care products and at the same time tending to
her three young children.
The indigene of Kogi State and mother of
three looked smart in a short sky blue dress on red sneakers as she
welcomed this reporter to her cozy Bubuphoto studio on the popular
Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island-Lagos.
Growing up in Ilorin after her secondary education at Suleja, Niger state, her initial ambition was to be a medical scientist. An encounter with dead bodies erased that ambition and she opted for Geology and Mineral Resources. She studied the course at the University of Ilorin. Her youth service was spent in Balyesa State where she served in an oil servicing. She was later employed in the Information Technology department of Zenith Bank headquarters. She was with Zenith for four years and quit when she got pregnant with her first child.
Growing up in Ilorin after her secondary education at Suleja, Niger state, her initial ambition was to be a medical scientist. An encounter with dead bodies erased that ambition and she opted for Geology and Mineral Resources. She studied the course at the University of Ilorin. Her youth service was spent in Balyesa State where she served in an oil servicing. She was later employed in the Information Technology department of Zenith Bank headquarters. She was with Zenith for four years and quit when she got pregnant with her first child.
There is a new Busola! From her inner
most recesses emerged a passion that she previously gave fleeting
thoughts to. She loves taking photographs. The prompting came from her.
He encouraged her to get proper tutorials. For three months, she
enrolled with a photographer. Two years ago, to go for an eight-week
course in photography at the New York Film Academy.
It is a little bit over one year since
she launched out. According to her, photography is an eye-opening. It is
not just about clicking. There is a lot that goes into every aspect of
photography: The portrait, abstract, the documentary and storytelling.
The photography scene in Nigeria has
been busy in recent years, throwing up quite a few creative
practitioners. Not fazed by thoughts of competition, Busola believes she
is bringing new things to the table. “My passion for photography has
always been there right from childhood. I had cameras and if we went out
I was always concerned about taking photographs. If we go on family
vacation I would be the one in charge of photography and hardly have
pictures of myself.”
Her inspirations come from many sources
including gazing at a moving car, or watching a movie, or just gazing
into the sky, Busola is currently concentrating more on celebrity
photography, portrait, storytelling all in a bid to make a larger
statement. “A picture can cover up three pages of a book. Before I take
any picture, I make a sketch of what I want on my mind. It is like
fashion designing. There is a likelihood that I will stage an exhibition
later. People would then understand how I see things. Pictures of every
photographer shows the person.”
She is keen on achieving great things
through photography. “I feel people connect more to images and you can
touch lives more. I will fulfilled if I am able to help humanity through
pictures.”
There is no doubt being married to a famous husband can open many closed doors in her new vocation but Busola insists that her work speak for itself.
There is no doubt being married to a famous husband can open many closed doors in her new vocation but Busola insists that her work speak for itself.
Her favourite role model in photography
is Steven Meisel, a fashion commercial photographer based in New York
who has taken many royalty photographs for Vanity Fair and covered Vogue
Italian for over 20 years. “In Nigeria I love Obi Somto, TY Bello
because for a female to embark on a photography job it takes a lot of a
concentration.”
She recalled how she met her Bayelsa-born soul singer. “We met in the Household of God Church in 2008 shortly after he won the West African Idol. I wasn’t even ready for marriage or relationship when I met him. I was quite nasty to him because I didn’t want to entertain anybody around me.
He was very persistent and kept pressing
me that he just wanted to my friend. I was not keen in dating him. I
even gave him a wrong number. The following week after church service
this guy trailed me with his car just to know where I was staying. Weeks
later I saw him around my premises pretending to look for my flat
mate.”
Fortunately for Busola, her youth service year in Bayelsa enabled her to get acquainted with the people of Bayelsa.
Fortunately for Busola, her youth service year in Bayelsa enabled her to get acquainted with the people of Bayelsa.
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