Diary of a Patriotic Corper: Camera Adventures

At different points in my life, people meet and discover different colours of me. What you may know me for—which is likely writing, tech, and film reviews, if you are reading this—may vastly vary for the person next door. And at certain times, some of these things come in handy at the right time. Just like it did today.

The day before was the final day of service for my senior colleagues at this one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme that I am undergoing. In essence, and as we commonly connote it here, they were "passing out." I couldn't allow anything to hinder my attendance, as I had dear friends to celebrate, and so I made it there to celebrate with them.

"Olujay, you will come and snap me." I heard that statement and its variations every now and then on that day. Apparently, Olujay is known for taking good photographs with just his smartphone, as I have often heard. And as enthusiastic as I usually am about photography and videography, I didn't hesitate.

With a couple of shots here and there, I started getting questions about the kind of phone I was using. The photos were not only well-taken, but they were also really sharp and had great tones. Once again, everyone had the impression that I was a photographer. I had to be, especially since I really was not any different at our orientation camp—perhaps way more active—and I was known then for always taking good photos and videos.

That night, I was summoned to be a part of a health initiative by NYSC that would take place in a not-so-nearby community the next day. I had no idea why I was chosen, but I couldn't "disobey the clarion call." And so I showed up the next day dressed in my khaki uniform, boots, and cap, looking sharp as always. The other selected colleagues of mine did the same.

After assembly in the morning, today I was assigned cameraman duty for the event. And then it dawned on me that I was mostly asked to come for that purpose. That's what I think, anyway.

I received instructions on how to do the coverage, including the important people and activities to capture. And although the idea was sort of vague to me and was going to be laborious, I simply went on to do my thing.

Back and forth, I kept going around doing the job. I was excited to do it, and it reflected my enthusiasm and level of expertise to a reasonable degree. And for most of the event, people kept asking if the kind of phone I was using to take such stellar photos and videos was an iPhone or Samsung phone. To their surprise, it was just the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro they were seeing in action, and they had barely ever heard of such a model of phone.

Now, I really do not think that my phone is superior or competitive against the flagship models of Apple and Samsung. It is distantly far from it, even. However, I was 200% intentional when I picked this phone to buy and didn't care about the challenges I faced to get this particular phone. So yes, it makes me feel like I got a really good deal for a phone when people like it.

Moving on. At the end of the day, I took about 300 photos and videos for that event alone. If you guessed that I was in absolutely none of those photos and videos, you were damn right! I lived the life of a photographer by making invisible appearances in my own work. Tsk tsk.

Sadly, I wasn't prepared for the job. And now my phone feels like it ate too much and sometimes misbehaves. It's a thing that happens with Android smartphones when their storage is full. During the event, my phone kept overheating because the environment wasn't cool at all, and I had to keep circumventing my way to keep the phone stable.

As is usually the case on this side of the world, we started the event really late, something around noon. And then we left late because of that. After everything, I started to consider something.

I should probably get an actual camera for myself and take gigs sometimes to add some doe to my pockets, as well as become much better at it. Covering events may not really be something I am interested in because I really don't enjoy being in crowds of people, so I'd rather experiment with other kinds of photography or just do random shots of my woman whenever. Either way, I get to do it.

What a day today was! Actually, yesterday, because this was written the day after. Without much thought, I just stopped at my usual spot to eat eba with afang and egusi soups. And of course, I chill cans of malt.

Now that I am back from this rather interesting week, it's back to the status quo with my ambitions and all. And, yes, I started with the gym this morning. My body didn't want to go, though, because I was still really slow. That's how it starts, however—showing up less and less until it completely stops—and then no more gym after a couple of days or weeks.

Although my routine and plans were detered, I had a rather spontaneous and exciting week, even though it was mostly stressful. What was yours like? By the way, make earnings with your content on Hive via InLeo while you truly own your account. If you're new, sign up in a few minutes by clicking here!