Fawaz Onakoya

OJUDE OBA FESTIVAL X CAMON 40 . . . Photographer: @farscalgraphy 📲: Tecno CAMON 40 pro 🎨: @lightroom @tecnomobile @tecnomobileng #TECNOCAMON40Series #ojudeoba2025 #ojudeoba #mobilephotography #yoruba

A few favourite frames from the past year. Curious to know which one you like the most. 😍 . . . Photographer: @farscalgraphy 📲: Tecno Camon 40pro 🎨: @lightroom @tecnomobile @tecnomobileng #ShotOnTECNOCAMON40 #photography #mobilephotography #influencer #explore

Silver Prize Winner 🥈 | ShotOnCAMON Contest Honored to be awarded the Silver Prize in the “Snap Any Motion” category of the global #ShotOnTECNOCAMON photography contest. Grateful to @tecnomobile @tecnomobileng @ap_magazine for creating a platform that celebrates creativity and for empowering creators to tell stories in motion. ‎#ShotOnCamon ‎#TECNOCAMON40Series ‎#ShotOnCamon2025 ‎#ShotOnCamon

IFIWERA: A Visual Study of Universals and Particulars This work is part of my ongoing intention to incorporate philosophical concepts into photography, using images as a way to examine ideas that are usually discussed in theory. Ifiwera focuses on the relationship between universals and particulars within everyday market spaces in Ibadan. Across four different markets, I looked at what remains consistent and what shifts. The structure of the market, talk about exchange, movement, display, interaction, stays the same. What changes are the people, their presence, and how each moment is shaped within that structure. Each frame documents that balance. The system is quite familiar, but the expression is specific to place, time, and individual. In order of frames: Bodija Market: @omnet_the_creator Agbowo Market: @onlyonenova_ Ojoo Market: @m4mirah oke Padre Market: @jobathepoete

TIFE✨ Photographer: @farscalgraphy In frame: @tifeabidoye #shotoniphone

The smiles reached my eyes😁✨ #explore #nysc

Celebrating creativity in every form. Happy World Art Day!✨ #worldartday #art

Time will happen to us all. It will change how you see things. Just as it stretches relationships, it quietly removes others. And sometimes, without you noticing, people who once felt like everyday life become memories you have to reach for. I think that’s what I walked into that evening in December, 2025. It was a reunion. Same secondary school in Oshodi, Lagos State. Same set, 1996. I was there to document it, nothing more. But immediately I stepped in and brought out my camera, it didn’t take long to realise I was standing in the middle of something much bigger than just being the camera guy. I was the youngest there. Most of them were in their early 40s. I’m 23. I had just graduated from uni that same year. Not even up to a year yet. Life still feels close, still within reach. But in that room, I was surrounded by people who had lived far beyond that stage. People who had become different versions of themselves, and now returning, even if for just a moment, to where it all started. But then, amidst all the laughing and remembering and calling each other by names, one moment stood out. Two of them met again, and there was this impatience that came with their hug. No… this had to be more than a hug. It felt like recognition. Like memory finding its way back into the present. You can already imagine how much they would have had to sacrifice to show up that day. I tried not to get carried away and took the picture, but that exact moment never really left me. I had witnessed my future right in front of my eyes. I mean, it’s been just a few months, and my mates are already drifting. Life is pulling everyone in different directions. All of what used to feel close is now beginning to refuse staying that way. And yet, looking at them, after everything time must have done, the distance, the changes, the years, time really did happen. And many things didn’t survive. But I came to understand that some things do. Some things, in the waiting… in that quiet waiting. That one day, without even planning it, you might find yourself standing in front of someone who used to be your everyday life… and for a moment again, nothing will feel lost. #documentaryphotography

There are people who collect art, and there are those who live inside it. I met Mr. Tommy Odama sometime in 2024, and it’s funny how the same thing that might sound cliché, ‘passion’, was really the pull. We were both drawn to art. I remember being at his gallery that year to document an exhibition. On one hand, I was just there to shoot. On the other hand, he, a realtor by profession, owned the space, exhibiting artists and their work. I guess that tells the story… at least to an extent. But I’ve never really looked at him as just a gallery owner. In rooms like this, you know, surrounded by colour, fire, memory, form… everything, he doesn’t feel like someone who simply owns the space. He feels like someone who understands why it has to exist. Because the truth is, not many people in that line of work carry art beyond decoration or status. So for a while, I’ve wanted a frame that holds both sides of him. This was from another exhibition earlier this year. I was there to document, like always. Then he walked in, in that red jacket, almost blending into the works behind him. That moment… it felt right. Like he belonged both inside and outside the frame. And I think I finally got what I’ve been looking for. I didn't get just another portrait but a glimpse into how he lives. It’s never really been about what he does. I just admire how he chooses to exist around the things he loves. I mean… I do too. #documentaryphotography #documentaryportrait #visualstorytelling

I didn’t grow up with plenty. Being the first of five, responsibility found me early, before I even knew what to call it. It wasn’t anything loud or heavy. Just small, everyday things. Talk about watching over my siblings, running small errands here and there, keeping things in order and taking responsibility if they go wrong, and sometimes going without my own share so others could have. Over time, it simply became part of me. That day, two years ago at my grandmother’s place, was one of those visits where everything feels familiar, the same shop in a market down the road, the same faces, the same slow pace of life. Then I saw them. Two sisters. My cousins. The older one had this easy smile, like life hadn’t interrupted her yet. I'm sure it wasn't because everything was perfect, perhaps because she’s still holding on to that light space where joy comes freely. The younger one… she was different. She was neither upset nor happy. But I could tell for sure that she looks very much aware. She seems to have already started noticing things the older one hasn’t started seeing yet. Like she’s observing life more than she’s just living in it. I don’t remember asking them to pose. I didn’t fix anything. I just took the picture. But I kept going back to it. It felt familiar. Same environment, same people raising you, but life settles on each person differently. Sometimes the older one feels it first. Sometimes it’s the younger one who starts seeing too early. There really is no pattern to it. We can all come from the same place, look the same on the outside but inside, we’re changing at our own pace. And when I look at them, I don’t just see my cousins. I see where we come from. I see parts of myself. I see that quiet point where childhood is still there… but something else has already begun. And the truth is, nobody tells you when that shift happens. You just wake up one day… and something about you is no longer the same. 📸: @canoncnafrica #documentaryphotography #documentaryportrait #visualstorytelling #CelebrateAfrica

THE EYES OF IWERE “They say the eyes are the Windows to the soul, but here, they are the Windows to a Kingdom's future” At the GHÍGHÓ AGHÓFEN (Palace Watch) ceremony in the Warri Kingdom, the daughters of Iwere sit in quiet dignity, their presence reflecting the depth of the kingdom’s cultural heritage. Adorned in sacred coral beads known as okun and dressed in the traditional colours of their people, they embody both grace and tradition within the ceremonial setting. Through moments like these, the enduring legacy of the Warri Kingdom becomes evident. For more than five centuries, its customs and cultural expressions have remained a vital part of community life. In the calm, steady gaze of the daughters of Iwere, one sees a living connection between the past, the present, and the future of the kingdom. #explorepage✨ #warri #oluofwarri #africanculture #documentary

👑GHÍGHÓ AGHÓFEN👑 The Ghíghó Aghófen is a traditional festival of the Warri Kingdom instituted by His Royal Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR, the Olu of Warri, @oluofwarri and is deeply rooted in the customs and heritage of the Itsekiri people. The name Ghíghó Aghófen translates to “Palace Watch”, a symbolic and ceremonial observance in which the various communities and quarters within the kingdom take turns assuming responsibility for watching over Aghófen, the royal palace of the Olu of Warri. Through this rotational watch, the festival reinforces unity, shared stewardship, loyalty to the throne, and the enduring bond between the monarch and the people. It was therefore a profound honour to document the Ghíghó Aghófen ceremony 2026 at Aghófen Palace. To witness and capture such a culturally significant moment was not merely an exercise in photography, but a privilege of preservation, framing history as it unfolded. In every rhythm, every procession, and every gesture of reverence lay a powerful reminder that culture is alive, sustained by the collective pride and continuity of the Warri Kingdom. Photographer: @farscalgraphy 📸: @canoncnafrica 🎨: @lightroom 🖼: @photoshop