In the ’80s, the Peugeot 504 was probably more common on the Nigerian street than the Toyota. I took this photo of young men hanging on to a speeding truck with a Canon AE1 Program and developed the 35mm negative in my home darkroom. I printed the image on glossy 10 x 13 inch paper on my diffuser enlarger… still have the washed-out print.

So much has changed in four decades. I no longer have a darkroom. The AE1 film camera, Peugeot 504 and enlargers are all museum pieces. But one thing is constant: the low value we place on our lives.

Seatbelts optional

Our second exhibit was taken in 2013 on a NX300 Samsung digital camera. No darkroom was implicated in the making of this image, but our black-and-white value for life is present in radiant colour.

[#31DaysOfDecember is a photo series on street images]

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