Kevin Gitonga: The Soaring Photographer

Published by Paukwa on March 9, 2021

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The hustler spirit lives in many Kenyans, and this is no different for Kevin Gitonga. Growing up in Nairobi, Kevin looked up to his family as his source of inspiration. Naturally, these became the people he molded his career aspirations after. Most were entrepreneurs working to fulfil a need or bridge a gap. This mindset seeped into his own identity and during his day-to-day interactions, Kevin looked out for opportunities to leave his mark in the world.

He carried this outlook into the job market upon completing his Bachelor of Commerce undergraduate studies at Strathmore University in 2009. Kevin had his fingers in many pots, trying his luck at several enterprises including retail clothing. Through all of this, Kevin kept looking for that gap he was meant to fill. But even as he kept his eyes peeled for this purpose, he continued the continued to grow his retail business and in 2014, decided to take it to the next level.

In an attempt to reach a wider market, Kevin invested in a camera which he could use to take photos of the garments and post online. It was a secondhand Nikon d80 and at the time, he did not think much of the purchase or how important of an investment it was. But then a conversation with his brother opened him up to the idea of using the camera beyond online promotion. This spurred Kevin into the direction of becoming a photographer.

Just as he had done in the business world, Kevin began his journey by trying his hand at multiple genres of photography. He became a jack of all trades, learning the skill while on the job and taking on as many projects as possible. From weddings to fashion shoots to portraits, he was the man for every job. As he honed his skill over time, he came to fall in love with his new line of work. But the question he still pondered upon was about his purpose, and as much as he enjoyed photography, its meaning to him had still not evolved beyond being an economic opportunity.

In 2016, on a work project in Kisumu, Kevin took time out to explore the lakeside city. By this time, he had traded in his first camera and was excited to document his travel on a Nikon d750. He came across a rundown abandoned boat with the words “no sex for fish” painted on its side. He asked one of the fishermen about the meaning behind it. The sentence, as the fisherman explained, summed up the imbalanced exchange that often took place between needy young girls and fishermen. This story took Kevin aback, and for the first time since becoming a photographer, he had learned something new about the realities other people lived through by engaging with them. Training his lens to the side of the boat, he captured these words on his camera.

Over the course of the next few months, his mind wandered back to this photograph and the magnitude of it all. The photo remained in his personal archives for years, but the change it triggered within him caused a visible shift in his work. He aligned himself with his newfound meaning to capture timeless moments and tell captivating tales through his photographs. Slowly, he began to withdraw his energies from the wide spectrum of photography to focus on documenting humanitarian stories.

Today, Kevin works with various non-governmental organizations including AMREF, UNICEF, World Vision, and Oxfam, capturing images of Kenyans from different corners of the nation. His quest to tell visual stories is unceasing, and his ability to capture the emotion of his subjects is awe inspiring. His work can be found at www.plateau-media.co.ke.

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