JOE WERE: Gentle giant balancing the world with his camera and his attitude
When we first spot him, he is playing the keys at a Just A Band concert. A hat sits jauntily on his head as he sways and bounces to the flow of the music. Joe Were is Just A Band’s music director, but here we’re focusing on another facet of his dynamic skill-set: photography.
Embarking on his photography journey in 2010, this former IT teacher’s interest for was sparked from hanging out with singer and media personality Patricia Kihoro, who is a photography aficionado herself. He was to move from
snapping images from an iPhone, to buying his first professional camera in 2012. It didn’t hurt that he was friends with professional photographers Mutua Matheka and Mwangi Kirubi (Mwarv), a fact that saw his skill and talent grow.
Joe polished up this innate talent by turning to YouTube tutorials and 500px.com for extra instructions. It was 2013 that he landed his first photography job. In the span of 5 years, Joe has grown into one of the city’s most respected portrait and landscape photographers. He rolls with the big boys as an integral part of the photography collective Onetouch Photography. “We go around the country capturing images of places people haven’t seen; hidden treasures. There’s a place called Thego in Nyeri that looks like it’s in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, it’s breathtaking.”
Joe’s Instagram account is crammed with numerous pictures showing the beauty of Kenya and other places he travels to.
What then is it that gets him out of bed everyday to go out and conquer the world with his camera? “I’m basically trying to tell the more positive stories because we already have a lot of negative stories of starving children and poverty. It’s a true story but not the only one. My goal is to have a balanced story out there.”
Joe’s role with Just A Band has also been instrumental in developing his photography, acting as the band’s tour photographer, building a visual diary as they play at venues across the globe.
He mentions the symbiosis of his music and photography life where he benefits from international band tours by getting the opportunity to take pictures there, as with the music groups just concluded USA tour.
The USA is not the limit of the exposure of Just A Band has provided for Joe. His website carries exquisite photos of the United Arab Emirates desert, a location he visited while on tour with the band.
One would expect that as rooted as Joe is in photography, he would devote his website to showcasing only his own images on the site. It turns out however that he is generous with his gifts and has been featuring other photographers on his site, incorporating video interviews and works of these photographers. He affirms that this practice will not stop at photography; he is eager to give art that paints a positive picture of Kenya and Africa, a platform. In addition to hosting other artistes on his site, Joe also hosts a Q&A platform on his blog where he takes questions from followers of his blog, and shares his technique and editing tips.
The blog has been active since February of this year. Artistes are not the only ones that have been lining up for a
share of Joe Were, corporates and government agencies have too. In the past, he has worked with Airtel, Coca-Cola and the European Union among others.
Of the ongoing project with Airtel dubbed ‘Future Shapers’ he says, “It is basically about highlighting and showcasing people; changing the times and perceptions of Africans in technology.”
Inspired by local creative artiste Mutua Matheka, British car photographer Tim Wallace and Belarusian travel photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich, Joe Were is certainly growing into a brand that many photographers coming
behind him, will reference as the benchmark they set themselves up to.
Check out Joe Were’s amazing work on his website and Instagram. Follow the One Touch Live crew on Instagram
