‘Brotherhood and male affection are rarely seen in a culture typically painted as hyper-masculine by the west,” says Justin Attah Mensah, a film-maker and photographer from Accra, Ghana. “This image showcases the beauty in this companionship, and celebrates it.”
Mensah had travelled to Kokrobite beach, about an hour from Accra, for this photoshoot. “In the foreground is a young model called Nii Sowah Laryea; behind him, a model with albinism whom I have since lost touch with.” He used an iPhone 7 Plus to take the photo, which he admits can bring limitations.
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“A digital camera can produce much greater depth of colour and quality, and gives you more flexibility to edit to your taste afterwards. The colours a phone captures are quite primary, but in some cases I actually like this. Here, I used the Lightroom app to make some minor edits and introduce some tones. I did play with the colours to make them more vibrant, but not too much. I didn’t want it to look artificial.”
Mensah chose to include balloons as “symbols of freedom”, and notes the importance of the contrasts in the image: between the balloons and the models’ skin; between different skin colours; and between these foreground images and the beach and sky.
“Sometimes in my models I see a reflection of myself and where I want to be,” he adds. “The photo we created here makes me feel light, happy and free.”
