Meet Fiwajomi Tomiwa | Photographer and Fine Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Fiwajomi Tomiwa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Fiwajomi, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My business was initiated by a quest to survive. I lost my job and I couldn’t be a liability to the society. I enrolled with a Professional Photographer to train me, while I invested in developing my skills in Painting and Drawing skill via Youtube and Instagram.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Although my background is in Economics, I practice Photography and Art on the side. I enjoy drawing hence it comes easily, I am obsessed with drawing portraits to precision. The beauty of Portrait drawing is the ability to see beyond the surface. I sometimes go to my clients apartment to take their pictures before selecting and drawing them.

Portrait drawing for me is a form of story telling. I act as a consultant to my clients recommending the best image to draw.

I am still exploring the photography aspect of my life, I do event photography, portrait photography and street photography.

A blend of photography and art has been an advantage to my creative instinct and trust me, it comes handy even when I don’t have the best of tools.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First; My apartment, you don’t come to my hood without visiting my apartment: Not big but comfy.

Next we go to the beach, Landmark beach or the Good beach. Going to the beach during the day is a good flex for creatives, but at night? its wide and crazy, a lot much fun to party.

I will also have us go to Nike Art gallery, it is a hub for Artwork.

Idanre Hills in Akure, trust me, this is an amazing place to visit and witness the beauty of Nature.

Places to eat for me, Cactus restaurant, sketch, The Yellow Chilli restaurant and bar….

For Arcade games, Rufus and Bee or Immersia

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Franklin N. Ndibam: We met few years back while I was trying to frame a commissioned Piece of Art, and it’s been ”Iron sharpening Iron”, sometimes when I don’t have the inspiration to draw, frank comes in handy. We share a lot of ideas and trust me, He is a big inspiration.

I have a few artist I watch paint on Instagram and Youtube;

1. Kelvin Okafor- Kelvin draws with so much finesse that it seems he is creating the Earth
2. Ken Nwadiogbu- Something about artist whose name starts with the letter K… Ken is a master of Charcoal pencils and you can see this in how he explores the depth of dark tones in his drawings

I have studied great photographers such as Ty-Bello, Emmanuel Oyeleke and Kelechi Amadi. They are a huge inspiration

Finally, A big shout out to Mirror Art, Ajayi Oluwafemi who encouraged me to join him in drawing and reminded me that I have the potential to be a good artist. Then Mirror Art stayed with me and created some beautiful commissioned portrait for some client. I however decided to draw one of his reference pictures and the rest is history.

Instagram: @fiwajomi_tomiwa @fiwajomiphotoart

Youtube: @fiwajomi

Image Credits
Fiwajomi Tomiwa