Today, I make over ₦150,000 on a monthly basis through my photography business. I didn't get here by accident. In fact, I saw a lot of hell before I got to where I am today.
It took a lot of discipline for me to be able to achieve this great feat. I will be sharing my stories so as to serve as motivation to upcoming photographers or businessmen who are going through certain challenges and feel like "HOPE IS LOST."
Hope is not lost. In fact, hope is very much available. I am a testament to that, and I will be sharing how I moved FROM ₦0 TO OVER ₦150K on a monthly basis.
Here is my story
PHASE ONE: MY EARLY DAYS OF LEARNING PHOTOGRAPHY
Two years ago, I was in a FACE-ME apartment in the Ipaja-Ayobo axis of Lagos. I was a broke boy to the core. At the time, I was using one ancient, cracked Tecno Android phone whose speaker was not working.
Anytime I wanted to receive a call with that phone, I would have to use an earpiece. The camera was worse. Generally, there was nothing good about the phone. The only thing I enjoyed using the phone for was listening to the radio.
I was a young graduate who had just finished from the university. There was no job anywhere. I had submitted applications literally everywhere. My email was full of job applications. Yet, I was not even called for an interview once.
At a point, I thought maybe it was my CV. I contacted professionals who curated selling CVs. I struggled to pay them for their service. There were times when I would have to borrow money so I could pay these people for their service.
Those acts led to me being in debt. I was taking risks by borrowing with the hope that when I finally got a job, I would pay back.
Days rolled by, turning into months. Now, it was time to pay back the loan I had taken. I couldn't pay it back. Those CV writers had promised me heaven on earth, saying that if I used the CV they created for me, I would get a job.
I thought I would, too, but I never did. Loan apps were on my neck, and I had no hope of paying them back.
Thank God for my elder brother, who paid the loan for me. Though, before he paid, he insulted me a lot, asking why I would act so stupidly. Actually, I accepted the insult because I was truly stupid for borrowing a loan of ₦5,000 when I couldn't pay it back. It was that bad.
Months rolled by, and the promising year began to look unpromising. I had used the first six months of 2024 looking for jobs, all to no avail.
On July 2, 2024, which was a Tuesday morning, I asked myself in my room what I wanted to use the rest of my life to do. At first, I thought about learning mechanics. But what discouraged me was the fact that it takes a lot of years before you can finish learning mechanics, though it is profitable.
I was there in my room when a thought popped up. The thought whispered to me and said, "Photography."
At first, I laughed it off. I was like, why would I learn photography in the first place when I had no dime? I didn't even have money to repair my phone. How would I find money to pay for the training? How would I find money to set myself up after training? Do you know how much they sell cameras, tripods, etc.?
A lot of discouraging thoughts filled my heart. I was like, "There is no way here." But a tiny voice kept trying to encourage me to give it a try.
I decided to give it a try. I discussed it with people around me in Ojuelegba.
They recommended different places where I could learn it, but the issue was that anytime I went to those places, the amount they were asking me to pay to learn photography was on the high side.
Imagine one photography studio telling me to bring ₦200,000 to come and learn it.
Immediately he said that, I looked at myself and whispered to myself, "Do I look like someone that has ₦10,000 to you?"
I laughed it off. I was discouraged because of the enormous amount they were asking me to bring, and they said I had to at least pay 60 percent of the money before training.
I discussed it with my elder sister, and she told me she knew someone who could teach me for ₦30,000. I was so excited. The amazing part was that the person was willing to collect instalmental payments despite the fact that the money was small.
I was so happy with this information. The next day, I moved to my elder sister's place, who lived in Agric, Ikorodu.
I can remember that I got there on the 10th of July, 2024, at exactly 9 a.m. On getting there, she gave me food. We discussed, watched some movies, and gisted. During our gist, she promised to take me to the photographer's place later in the day, particularly in the evening.
In the evening, on getting there, she paid some instalment and told the man I would be coming to work from the next day.
I was so excited. I never knew what was ahead of me.
These were some of the pictures of me during my early days of learning photography:
PHASE TWO: THE STRUGGLES I FACED WHILE LEARNING PHOTOGRAPHY
A month after I started learning photography, I realized I had never carried a camera once. The man was not teaching me anything.
My daily routine in that shop was to come to work, clean the shop and the environment, and then he would send me on errands to go and buy food for him.
He loved to send me for bread and beans at a canteen down the street.
The photographer was an ex-soldier. He ran away from the military after they told him to go and fight terrorists in the North, but he still claimed to be in the military.
He had one whip in his office. The whip looked like the whip soldiers often use. I was so scared of him back then to the extent that I couldn't ask him why he had not been teaching me anything despite collecting money from us for the training.
The major reason why I was there was to learn photography, but he was not teaching me. Instead, he was always complaining and insulting me over every little thing.
There was a day he threatened to slap me. I didn't say anything, neither did I report him to my sister. I was suffering in silence.
Four months of training passed, and yet I didn't even know how to turn the camera on and off. I didn't even know how to hang the camera around my neck. His camera was always far from me.
Whenever he was taking photos of his clients, he would always give me tasks to do that wouldn't even give me the opportunity to learn.
For example, he could tell me to carry the client's baby so it wouldn't disturb the mother while he took photos. He might even say I should carry the baby outside the studio while he took the photos.
It was that bad.
Luckily for me, the photographer invited one of his distant buddies who lived in Ibadan. The guy was a professional photographer like him, and he was also good at videography.
He invited the guy so that they could work together. The man was a Godsend because it was through him that I started learning some basic photography edits.
See some of the photography editing he taught me back then:
After some time, we were to go out for an event, and he gave me the camera to hold. My hand mistakenly pressed a button beside the lens. Immediately I pressed the button, the lens of the camera fell off.
I never knew that button could make the lens fall off.
How would I know when he never taught me anything?
He was informed of what I did. He threatened me and insulted me. He told me that I would buy the lens.
When we asked him back then how much the lens was, he told us that it was ₦300,000 for a UK-used one, not even a new one. He maintained his stand that I would buy a new UK-used lens for him because the other lens was broken.
My elder sister went to him to plead with him. He later reduced the money and said I should bring ₦100,000 to repair it.
I was sad. I was like, "Where will I see ₦100,000 to pay?"
I knew I was in trouble.
My sister was a tailor, and she only saw customers once in a blue moon. She didn't charge her customers much. So, how would she find a whopping sum of ₦100,000 to help me out?
My elder sister had to tell my dad about it, and within a week, he sent the money. How he got the money to pay still remains a mystery to us today.
This is one of the reasons why I must succeed in life, so as to repay my dad for all the good things he has done for me.
A few weeks after that incident, I left my sister's place because I was tired of the time I was wasting in that photography studio without learning anything. Though, I didn't tell my sister that was my plan.
When I wanted to leave her place, I told her I wanted to visit our dad just to say hello. I told her I would be back.
I knew if I told her I wouldn't be coming back, she would want to advise me to stay and finish learning it. Why would I keep staying at a place where I wasn't learning anything?
So, I moved.
A few weeks later, my sister kept calling me, asking when I was coming back. I kept giving her excuses until I had enough of her calling.
I told her one day, "I am no longer coming."
I gave her a lot of reasons why I was no longer coming back.
She asked me, "Why didn't you tell me that he was not teaching you anything?" She said if I had told her, she would have met with him.
I told my sister that I was really afraid of the man because he was an ex-military man.
This was how that chapter ended.
After getting back home, I was able to get a job, even though the pay was very little. I took it and did it with all my might and strength. I was able to save some money from that work.
Later on, I saw this big photography studio in my area that had been attractive to me. I went there one day and met with the manager, whose name was Seyi. He was the CEO of Sheyak Photography. He was a professional photographer who also worked with that studio.
I made all the necessary enquiries, and he told me the fee for learning photography was ₦80,000.
I went home and counted all the money I had saved. It was just ₦20,000.
I told my elder brother about it, but he couldn't help immediately at that time, and I understood.
It was my dad who helped me again with the remaining money from his pension back then. I can categorically say I was one of the people who spent most of his pension money.
I think I made the best decision by learning from him. He taught me everything I needed to know about photography, and he also made me practise it in the studio.
There was a time he gave me a camera to go and shoot a naming ceremony. I went and shot it. The pictures came out nice, and he was proud of me.
I just thank God our paths crossed.
However, before I knew how to take photos properly in his studio, I faced some challenges. I never understood lighting, irrespective of the number of times he taught me.
He taught me about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
I never understood them easily based on where I was coming from.
Back then, when he was teaching me, out of every 20 photos taken by me, it was by luck that I would get one photo snapped properly with the right settings.
My boss back then never gave up on me.
It was also during those moments that even some close family members and friends tried to discourage me.
One of my uncles told me to go and learn mechanics. He said photography was not for me.
Another aunt of mine said I should go and learn painting.
A friend said I should go into fishing.
I was discouraged as a young man trying to make something out of life.
But look at me here now. I understand that photography is all about lighting. Without light, there is nothing like photography.
PHASE THREE: THE STRUGGLES I FACED AFTER LEARNING THE BASICS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Now, my next struggle was: how do I get money to buy a camera and other gear, like a reflector, that would be needed for my photography business?
We all know that photography tools are very expensive. In fact, everything about photography is expensive.
Sometimes, just getting a light alone can cost you thousands of Naira, if not millions sometimes.
If you want to get a good camera with a lens, you will have to have millions in your account to get them. Though, there are still some cameras in their thousands that you can start with.
This is one of the reasons why photographers charge a lot. It is because the gear and tools they use to take your photos are very expensive.
We shouldn't blame them when we go for a photoshoot and they give us an enormous studio session fee.
I was broke after learning photography. I had the knowledge now, but I didn't have a dime to set up my studio, and my purpose of going into photography was to start my own photography business.
However, here I was. How would I start when I didn't have money to set up?
I thought about it for a long time and wondered what to do. Then, a thought popped into my mind.
I discussed it with my boss, who taught me photography. I told him I could work for him for a year.
At that point, he was already planning to start his own photography studio, and he wanted to stop working with the former studio.
When I told him about my plan of working for him, I can remember what he said.
He said, "Olumide, every great photographer started from here."
He said he was willing to employ me. He said someone had made the pathway for him too.
I joined his new studio and started working with him. He placed me on a monthly salary and gave me some extra money sometimes just to encourage me because he knew how hardworking I was.
At the time, his personal studio was in Maryland, Lagos.
Every morning, I moved from Ojuelegba to Maryland. It wasn't that far, though, because I had a shortcut I often passed.
I didn't care about the transport fare because I knew what I wanted.
He was paying me ₦150,000 as a monthly salary back then. I ensured I saved at least 60 percent of my salary and managed to live with the remaining 40 percent.
It was not easy because out of this 40 percent, I had to pay my rent, eat, pay bills, and do other stuff.
Luckily for me, I lived in a FACE-ME apartment, and it didn't cost much.
I never complained because I knew what I wanted. Moreover, he was even trying for me.
There are some studios that don't even pay their workers up to ₦100,000 on a monthly basis.
After working for him for a year, I was able to save a reasonable amount of money to set up my own mini studio.
This is the breakdown of how much I spent on my mini studio here in Lagos on June 28, 2026, which happened to be my birthday:
- Used Mirrorless Nikon Camera — ₦280,000
- 50mm Lens f/1.8 — ₦90,000
- Softbox Lights ×2 — ₦60,000
- Props Box — ₦20,000
- Laptop for Editing — ₦150,000
- Plastic Chair and Table for My Office — ₦40,000
- 4 Plastic Chairs for My Customers — ₦80,000
- Shop Rent — ₦300,000
Total Money Spent: ₦1,020,000
I saved ₦90,000 every month out of my salary for 12 months straight, which amounted to ₦1,080,000.
PHASE FOUR: THE TURNING POINT: HOW I MADE OVER ₦150K
When I started this photography studio on June 28, 2026, for two months straight, I never had a client come to my shop.
How I survived those two months still remains a mystery to me.
At a point, I was asking myself if I had not ventured into the wrong business.
One thing I didn't know was that businesses are like that. They always seem so hard at first, but with time, they become softer.
During the months of July and August 2026, I was just going to the shop, opening the shop, and closing.
Though, some people came to make enquiries about how much we charged for a photography session in our studio.
I would tell them, but they never actually booked the session.
At a point, I began to question myself and ask if my price for the photo session was not too high.
I did my research and discovered my price was even lower compared to some of the studios around me.
So, I left it like that without reducing it.
On September 2, which was a Wednesday, I can remember a client came in for her son's birthday shoot in my studio.
I was so excited.
She booked a 10 minutes photo session, which cost about ₦20,000.
I was so happy but tried to maintain my steeze.
In fact, I decided to give her two extra free shots because she was a new customer, and she was happy.
See the Alert below after payment:
Job 2: 30 minutes Outdoor Photo Session
A customer reached out to me through our Instagram page.
She said she wants to book an outdoor photo session
I asked her how many minutes she would like the photoshoot to last and how many photos she was expecting.
She said she was expecting a minimum of five well-edited photos in different attires.
I gave her my quote and told her it would cost her ₦60,000.
She paid the whole amount even before I left my office.
I went to the location, took the photos, edited them back in my studio, and sent the soft copies to her.
She was really excited.
This was the payment screenshot below;
Job 3: Naming Ceremony in My Hood
One person in my community recommended me to a woman who needed a photographer for her child's naming ceremony.
Till date, I don't even know who the person who recommended me is.
However, I am grateful for that act of kindness.
I sent the woman my quote and told her my fee was ₦100,000.
She paid 50 percent of the money and sent me the date of the ceremony.
I went there on that day, took the photos, edited them, and made them into a 5-by-7 photobook.
She and her husband loved the photos and promised to always reach out whenever they had an event.
This was how I was able to make over ₦150,000 in my third month of starting my photography business.
CONCLUSION
I know I am not where I want to be yet, but I am no longer where I used to be.
This means there is progress, and that is all that matters.
I am here today not because it is easy, but because I sacrificed, took the bull by the horns, worked hard, saved, planned, strategized, failed several times, and never gave up.
I didn't get here by accident.
I paid my own bills by going through certain difficulties.
I always tell people that you can't amount to something significant in life if you are not willing to sacrifice.
If you don't sacrifice anything, then you are not ready for success.
You must be diligent and disciplined enough to achieve your aim.
Nothing good comes easy.
The down days are real, and the paying days are also real.
It took me over two months to be able to make my first sale in photography, even after all the pain I went through while learning the craft.
It took discipline, hard work, showing up, and never giving up to arrive at this point that I am.
We are not giving up here.
We have come too far to give up now.
Cheers to millions ahead!
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