A white moth gently flew through the field as I watched intently with my compact digital camera, squatting and waiting for it to perch on one of the blue floss flowers that were scattered across.
“ Perfect! ” I exclaimed excitedly as I took the photo.
The well-detailed photo of the moth under the warm sunlight was spectacular, I'm pretty sure I'm talented. Well, sadly everyone else thought otherwise, especially my parents.
Let's start from the beginning. My name is Amina, I'm in love with nature and photographs of it. Well, who can blame me, where I live in Ondo state Nigeria is partially surrounded by hills and tropical rivers – exquisitely beautiful.
The digital compact camera was a gift from my uncle to support this 'hobby' of mine and that's all they wanted it to be – a hubby. I wanted it to be a full-time career. Well, that was six years ago, now I am 25 and I have to admit, I almost regretted that decision.
For a couple of years, I spent my time taking photographs, and juggling freelance gigs while at the same time taking care of my aging mom. I felt like giving up.
Everyone who knew me in my locality looked down on me. In their minds, I guess they thought I was wretched and poor.
But then, everything changed when I met Bola a renowned artist who reignited my passion and showed me a whole lot of ways to earn a living with my skill.
Despite any condition anyone finds himself in, I've learnt that developing a skill or a hobby can make a fulfilling lifelong career.
Standing up, I swiped my thumb across the camera checking out my other photos with delight. They'll make a very good stock photo collection.
People will look down on you as they look down on me, but that's okay. They will never know about your success in the years to come.
I walked away, in the sun set.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
