How Lola Akinmade Åkerström is Inspiring Black Women Photographers to Travel Outside the Box
When struggling with motivation, asking ourselves “why not?” may be the subconscious push we need - Lola Akinmade Åkerström.
At a time where we continue to experience unprecedented levels of immigration in history, expedition and adventure are still synonymous with white men. From microaggressions at airport check-ins to countless customs procedures and immigration forms, most are ignorant of what it feels like to navigate a world with gendered and racial barriers designed to exclude us.
One fateful day, Lola Akinmade came across a striking newspaper advertisement. The ad in question sought volunteers to document some of the most renowned athletes in the world at an expedition in Fiji. As a programmer living and working in Ohio, Lola questioned applying altogether and began reconciling whether her identity would hinder her passion for travel photography and writing. She applied anyway and unsurprisingly, she was the only Black woman who applied and was selected. Standing by a river at one of the most remote parts of Fiji, it dawned on Lola that when our ambitions compartmentalized into a box, there is power in defying these limitations.
On this journey of life, if travel is a source of knowledge, Lola is the worldliest of them all. Since her first assignment in Fiji, Lola has chased the northern lights, written about the Arctic cultures, and has since dispatched from over 70 countries. For her efforts in breaking barriers in the realm of travel photography, she received the 2018 Travel Photographer of the Year Bill Muster Award.
Drawing from her experiences, we spoke to Lola about her working with media giants like National Geographic and the launch of her new academy.
What inspired you to venture into photography?
I got into photography simply as a means to an end. I used to be an oil painter and when I traveled, I took photos of scenes I wanted to paint once back. Then I realized I was duplicating effort and started exploring photography as my new medium of expression. I started submitting my photos to Nat Geo's Your Shot platform and got picked three times for the editors' Daily Dozen. I gradually started to find my voice.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I always say I'm too subjective to be a war photographer or straight-up documentary photographer. I love to travel and specialize in travel photography and transporting views to a sense of place. My portrait photography is my own way of letting my subjects tell their own story through my work.
I love photographing people. I especially like drawing attention to their eyes so the viewer can forge a connection with them too. What keeps me going is the need to fight isolation through my work. The more I can create connection through my work - be it through writing or photography - the less isolation I can create in this world within my own spheres of influence.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job and what is the most challenging?
The places I get to explore and the people I get to meet - from sailing with icebergs in Greenland, chasing Northern Lights in the Arctic, spending time with the indigenous Sami, going out to see with Seychellois fishermen, staying in a small town at a homestay in Nepal, covering Ghana and its Cape Coast on assignment... the list goes on. I've been to roughly 70+ countries and travel remains my chosen avenue for exploring my passion.
A challenging lesson I've learned is that, the minute you walk up to a stranger and ask for their photo, the entire exchange no longer becomes about what you want but what they are willing to give you. This is how you deal with rejection and shame when approaching strangers and asking them to let you into their worlds.
Your photography is represented by the National Geographic Image Collection.
What advice do you have for photographers seeking opportunities?
Beyond creating an online presence, my advice to photographers getting started is to start finding your visual voice as soon as you can. Meaning, your own style so that when people put a series of your photos together – regardless of if they are photos of people or scenery, you can immediately see that the photography has a collective visual style.
There are thousands of amazing landscape photographers who have perfected technical settings to the point of not being able to differentiate whose photo of Patagonia is whose. I would rather have a less technically perfect shot with a clear visual style than a technically perfect shot and no visual voice.
How have you seen this medium and industry evolve over the years?
My main issue is with overly staged travel photos. What once inspired people to go explore a new place, enjoy its cuisine and learn about different cultures is now forcing people to reduce places to mere backdrops in search of the most creative angle. The advantage of these photos is they inspire more people to get out there and see the world. The irony is that they may end up not seeing as much of the world as they’d like to because these are inauthentic versions of the world.
Who are some of your favorite photographers?
One of my favorite photographers and a dear friend is Lily Girma is an Ethiopian-American photographer who covers the Caribbean. Mitchell Kanashkevich is a longtime favorite of mine because of the evocative way he captures and uses natural light during his travels. I recently discovered Holly-Marie Cato's wonderful work and I'm now a fan!
You’ve accomplished so much in such a short time frame, what’s next for Lola?
I recently launched my academy and my mission is to put the heart back into the craft. I’ve kickstarted the first three courses and will be launching the next batch soon, including how to sell your photos - https://www.akinmade.com/academy.
I also wrote a book called In Every Mirror She’s Black that chronicles the independent yet interrelated lives of three women living in Stockholm. It is now available for pre-order and links to various stockists may be found here.
