The Creator Of Memories: Ghanaian Photographer, Gerard Nartey

If photography were painting, Gerard Nartey would be legendary, only attributed in reputation to Leonardo DaVinci and Van Goh (in their youth). The simplicity with which he portrays complex concepts leaves remnants of nature’s beauty lingering in pictorial frames. Photography itself freezes history to the admiration and awe of posterity but little is known about how these great achievements in photography happen.

Photo by Gerard Nartey, an accident scene involving a tomato truck and the mangled car you see in the picture. You can start a story from the start to the end or from the end to the beginning. The same applies to photography;  cause before effect or effect before cause as illustrated in this photograph.

Photographers work diligently to give perspective to the ordinary, through which we draw the comparison between the beauty we find without and that which we aspire within. Thus starts the curiosity with which the works of Gerard Nartey draws, for which his side of the story matters.

Elliot Erwin says photography “is an art of observation, it’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place; it has little to do with things you see and everything to do with how you see them”

To Gerard, his ability to give you the lens through which he perceive things in the light of photography makes what he does significant to him. To make you realize something you haven’t realized seeing the same thing as he does, is no mean feat.

“At the core of art, for me, is creating something or expressing your opinion on something,” Gerard Nartey asserts.

When passion conspires with action, inspiration for creativity and beauty becomes inevitability, giving  birth to genius in the process. At the risk of  squandering the credibility readers might bestow this piece through excessive adoration, permit me to simple say Gerard Nartey has substance worthy of attention. 
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Photo by Gerard Nartey (@photogerard)

This picture was taken in Winneba during the Aboakyrie festival. Everybody: the young and old who could, were waiting at the banks of a water body waiting for which of the two teams of warrior hunters who would catch a live deer to climax the festivities. Naturally, the children frolicking attracted attention.

What was it about this picture that excited Gerard? He said, “It was the moment. The looks on the boy’s face to start with, the fact that he had leapt out of the water, the drama around it, the environment, it was just everything around that photo.”

Gerard understands the fleeting nature of time. “Every moment is fleeting. You see something and it’s gone [the next moment]. If you are not able to immortalize the moment, that’s it. It is like a reputation achieved a long time ago. Unless you keep telling people about it, It becomes insignificant” He explains. Capturing the time and emotion of the waiting moment makes this picture valuable.

First off, the subject was frozen in the peak of an upward thrust awaiting gravity’s eventual pull. One cannot resist perceiving this picture metaphorically as if to find some connection between life’s circumstances. 

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This picture was taken at an Engagement (traditional wedding), a Synecdoche of the union between two families. In Ghana, marriage is between two families and not just a man and a woman. When the families get together, they greet before they sit. It was in one of those moments. More so, a Ghanaian handshake is incomplete without snapping their fingers. This makes this handshake significant; a bond of agreement.

A great picture may not just tell a story or have great composition but may also leave something to the imagination, capture iconic moments, present the unique, show over looked details, uses unique lighting & colour, use unique perspective and at times, juxtapose concepts. This is the burden every photograph carries to be worthy as art. These are the finer details some people look for when they see images. This typical Ghanaian handshake is no different. It has most of the elements of a wonderful picture, just showing enough for you to imagine the story.

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The recent, most successful picture of Gerard Nartey is ‘Grandma’. His work did not only find its place on the fence wall of the Royal Netherlands Embassy but it placed 3^rd among several entries. 
“What works for me in the picture was you get to feel her presence; who she was. It is like me observing my grand mom when she is not aware. She tends to sit and ponder a lot looking like that moment in the picture. It makes the picture very dear to me.”

To be honest, I never saw the appeal to this image. It left me with more questions than answers. A closer look at the eyes gave me the retrospect with which my perception changed toward this picture.

By Gerard Nartey for the Royal Netherlands  Embassy

“Generally people like it. People said they were drawn to it, they like the humanity they see in the picture. I think when you look at the picture you feel like you know her. And people had that connection with the picture. They said it is something that they can look at for a long time.

Joana Ade Nike, said it was quite dynamic. Joana added that she [Grandma] is beautiful contrary to the stereotype that old people look frail, weak and have wrinkled skin. 
Her eyes are full of life. They look as if pondering over experience and good times; watching the young ones with understanding. 

A fan, Edna Otitiaku, interviewed for this article asked, “What does he do to focus on the person [subject] yet still finds space to focus on the nature and scenery around?”

Gerard has this to say when he was later asked, “If I take a picture of your face without the environment, nobody will know where the picture was taken, and I might not remember where it was taken. But if I frame you within the space we are, I can remember. Portraits are picture of people but then, there is also time and place to be considered. So to be able to include that in a portrait, it adds some value to the memory of the photo. If you have the opportunity to taking a picture here, why not include the elements that define the place?”
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This picture is quite remarkable once you hear the story behind. The sun had left its dying hue on the lake and landscape, as if to tell the photographer this is his design. Gerard Nartey admitted that he had attempted to alter the colors but realized later that he could not do justice to the picture so he enhanced the colors that were.

It was in those quite times he like to be outside the city and close to nature. These are some of the images he reveals that no one will get to see these wonders of nature if they have not been photographed because every moment is fleeting.

It is safe to conclude that, photography is Gerard Nartey’s passion. As he plainly stated, “I’m passionate about photography. I am a very visual person. Things that make me happy are, basically, the things I see (apart from interacting with people). You see a spectacular sunset; you will never get to see again. You take pictures and put them away. But as soon as you retrieve the pictures, the feeling of the scene envelops you. The nostalgia is rekindled and that is very special.”

Photography is a heartbeat as evident in the life and work of Gerard Nartey. Every moment in life is a photographic moment. It is just waiting for you to see it. To lend credence to this; let me quote a statement by Gerard:

“They say interest is the mother of attention. First you have to see the end result. You have to be able to see that this [the scene or object] makes a significant image to begin with, and that by the time you take the shot, it is something worthy of art.”