Octogenarian Daniel Ayorinde, popularly known as DToyin, didn’t set out to become a photographer; he didn’t even dream of it. But a circumstance beyond him reared its head, led him to the vocation and handed him a job which redefined him as one of the seasoned photojournalists in Nigeria.
Before he reached the apex of the vocation, DToyin had successfully completed his apprenticeship at Ababs Photo, Omitowoju, Ibadan. Before then, he had picked a cleaner job at the Ibadan Recreation Club, Sabo, upon his arrival in Ibadan in 1954 after his education at St. Stephen Secondary Modern School, Ado-Odo, then Western State of Nigeria.
The cleaner job was facilitated by his brother’s neighbour, one Mr. Kunle Abdul, a foreign newspapers vendor. He was paid £12, part of which he saved to buy a camera (Yashica Mat). He bought it at £44. That was Nigeria shortly after independence on October 1, 1960.
A cousin of his, a freelance photographer at Sketch Press Limited, borrowed the camera to Ondo but returned with the most devastating news that the prized camera had been stolen. DToyin was inconsolable, crying like an extremely famished baby denied his breakfast.
He lost his emotions because he had no hope of buying another camera soon. But his sympathetic mother helped out with a sum of £5, his mother-in-law also added £5. In the end, he bought another camera. He settled down and started afresh, regularly enjoying patronage.
“In those days, I was getting jobs from many customers who showed interest in me and my work. I was doing my job well,” he recalled.
At the same time, he was visiting Sketch Newspapers where his uncle, Mr. Opeolu Ayinla, was chief photographer. This connection exposed him to more photography knowledge, especially in the dark room, in addition to his experience at a weekly title known as The Sunshine.
DToyin was also familiar with the African Newspapers of Nigeria, Imalefalafia, Ibadan, publisher of the Tribune titles. It was at one of his visits that the Editor, Mr. Peter Apesin, sighted him and requested him to help take the late Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s wedding anniversary in Ikenne, Ogun State.
He obliged him and his work spoke louder than his voice; Awolowo admired his pictures, picked an interest and invited him to join his campaign tour for the then forthcoming general elections.
“I could not believe it that Baba asked me to work for him. I travelled to Ikenne. I met him and we spoke. I was first reserved about the offer due to my wife and children but I later accepted and joined the campaign team which travelled round the country.
“Later, I printed photos for governors, including those taken at the Conference of Governors with Awolowo in attendance. I enjoyed enormous privileges among the governors who recognised me as Baba Awolowo’s photographer.
“There was no Government House in the South-west that I could not go to. I slept in the Government House whenever I visited. I made good money from them,” he said.
When he had made enough money, to be so called, he felt it was time for him to buy a car to make him more comfortable and also help his job, having by then opened a studio which his employees operated. He went to Awolowo and told him of his plan to buy a car.
“Baba Awolowo asked me which brand of car I intended to buy. I told him Volvo. He said Volvo had no second-hand value, that I should buy a Peugeot. He gave me a note to a dealer here in Ibadan. The man was surprised. He sold the car to me at, I think, N6,000,” he recalled.
Given his wealth of experience as a studio and laboratory owner and a staffer of the Tribune titles, he advised young photographers to be hardworking and creative to be attractive to opportunities and fortune.
“You may run into luck on the job if you do the work well. It will be like a dream. You should also send your children to school and they should add a vocation to their education. It is very important because that is what I am enjoying today when I am not working again.”
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