The man behind the Vision

This is me.. My name is SHAKO OTEKA the man behind the lens and this is a view of my heritage. These shapes are the shapes of my thoughts, and the colors are a reflection of the sound the heart makes. I bleed in crayon colors, and speak with a dialect sound translated into an imagination. My name is Shako Oteka and I am the mind behind the lens the voice behind the sounds, and the colors in front of light.

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD

In love with food. When i look at food posters i always thought the photographs were taken out the oven and thats just how the food came out. Delicious. unfortunately the process that it takes to create that image was not what i thought So i took a jab at it myself and tried to create an appetizing plate. With the help of professor Durback from living arts college he showed me the necessary steps to light food.

I love Kinshasa

Day 2 shooting Yves

I have this great love for my home country. Its funny and amazing how I have came to America by an immigrant with a dream of a better future. My Father came to america with one shirt on his back and sheer determination to make a better living for his wife and children. I seen him work very hard to keep the food on the table and to cloth us. One thing that I have an appreciation is for the hard work, the hard faith, the risk, and the determination that he had to take a chance for his family. It crazy how my love for my father reflects my love for my nationality. I was born in a small village in Democratic Republic of Congo, left my birth mother at the age of 5 and lived in kinshasa for a few months at my uncles house, whom I call my father also. In this photoshoot I shot Yves my cousin whom you may here me call him my brother. 2 congolese men who love CONGO. I love KINSHASA, I love Congo, I love Africa.

Otekafoto and Yves

OtekaFoto and Ameerah

Prisoner of An Imaginative Thought..

Take me to a magical world where race has no value, where A kid can roam the streets of his imagination. I once was a kid where my imagination was as gold as the 7 steps to heaven. I love shooting kids... When it come to shooting kids I put on the imagination gloves on tightly. I mean we all were kids at one point and we all had the freedom that freedom gave us.We questioned, tested, played with everything from pleasure to questioning authority. Inspired by the author J. Kameron Carter on his book Race A theological Account. At the same time Styling is another form of free expression and it had to fit the concept. Clothing has to be playful, fun, and thoughtful, from shoe, socks, shorts, suits and ties, to the glasses, and even the part on his hair it was done for a purpose. We didn't just style the subject but we clothed the idea in hope of making the idea much easily to interpret.

The Last Virgin Standing

Goal create a sense of emotion using whats available. My goal was to make the client feel a need for a product.