 it's my own every social media platform so as I said we are focusing on social media on Fridays and today we have picked a career that has been I can say birth but it may grow as your Instagram and this is the photography career and in studio with me I have Tatiana Karanja aka Mama Olive with me who's going to be sharing a story but before that VTJ Khalifa please remind them what sounds they are listening sounds of VTJ Khalifa you're listening to the sounds of VTJ Khalifa on social media platforms then our first gig of the channel Garisa how many kilometers from Nairobi? actually this is my first time so if you're watching us from Garisa County we'll be having VTJ Khalifa the official Freestyle Friday DJ coming to your county so please hit us up on our social media white 54 channel on Twitter white 54 and the school channel on Instagram white 54 on Facebook without much further ado Mama Olive Karibusana hi thank you very much for having me all right you're welcome so you have you have an aka Olive is your first born yes she's my first born yeah alright all these Olive she's almost two and then I have her new one who is almost six weeks I so family is one of your hobbies you'll be telling us about that but who's Tatiana Karanja in a few words camera is number four Tatiana okay well I'm a photographer a mother a foodie a blogger an adventurer yeah what else can I say about myself all right that's that's enough so you're a photographer by profession yeah you studied this in college yes I did maybe you can give us a brief background of how this started when did you first fall in love with photography yeah I think I've always been in love with photography I just you know in Kenya growing up you don't think that's it's something that you can follow I mean growing up it wasn't even something offered in school so it was something you know when the first mobile phones with cameras came out I was really fascinated by the yeah so I used to take a lot of pictures of my sister and my grandfather my Dutch grandfather he gave me his old camera so I used to go and do a lot of wildlife in the Nairobi National Park and I remember camera was this it was a really old canon I'm not sure what it's analog so with film I'm not I can't remember exactly what it was but I used to just love taking photos with it and it was something I was really fascinated by but again it was not something I thought I could pursue so you know how to process the pictures as well at that time of course I gave it to code I mean one of the stores and they process it for me all right and then I used to do some edits online which were terrible but you know I think I do somewhere but then yeah I just applied for something in the Netherlands and I got in and my parents were very supportive and I went to you told your parents I want to be a photographer it was art photography course and I applied for it yeah and they were like yeah go and follow you yeah all right what what does your dad do business like any other kick who you out I like that all right so you went and studied photography in the Netherlands yes but you have also been in been to South Africa yeah I went to school in South Africa but that was for secondary school so you school in South Africa yeah yes I did so when you fell in love with photography was Instagram alive no I don't I think Instagram came about when I was in university I think yeah so you've seen the transition yes being a photographer without Instagram and being a photographer in this world with with Instagram yeah how is Instagram like impacted this industry that you're in you know to be fair I don't think I've seen that much of a transition because at the time I was in university like I said so I wasn't even I wasn't even a known photographer I was still studying still trying to find my way so I don't think I really saw that transition I mean I came into this photography world with Instagram so yeah I haven't seen the transition but I can imagine that Instagram has really it's just a platform where you are able to show so much of your work to so many people so I can imagine that that's I mean it's just been amazing for photography what are some of the social media platforms that you would encourage a photographer to get involved in definitely Instagram and you have to have your own website I know it's not something that everybody goes to but having a place where you can store all your pictures I mean create your own portfolio your own style because Instagram you have to own website is very important yeah because I mean Instagram you have to follow a certain style I mean you're posting your pictures but it's in their style your your website is you it shows exactly who you are as a photographer and what you want to show the world so I think that's very important with it exactly yeah so you've involved yourself in a project recently I've been to your Instagram but before we talk about this one please remind them your so your Instagram handle so they can stalk you while we talk about this okay my Instagram handle is at Tatiana Karanja yeah Tatiana Karanja so we can scroll up or down which one is it so please help me with that yes but I see pictures of guys in uniform here and also see pictures of some some kids right there you can scroll so I see the Masai culture somewhere the less so I like the black and white pictures right there we can stop that we can start with the animals all right what is all this about I feel like when I get to your Instagram I get the Kenyan feel immediately yeah well I I mean I love Kenya I'm really passionate when I come to Kenya all my photography just comes to life when I was in Holland I wasn't really passionate about what I was doing there so I'm really happy to be back but this particularly three different companies one was culture trip it's a big you know it's a big online platform so that's that was at the National Park this is just some personal maternity work this black and white series was with nature with the Northern Range Range Trust which is a huge company and I loved working with them I got to travel all over the Northern Range lands and just meet different tribes learn about our culture a bit more learn about different cultures different ways of life it was it was really fantastic yeah all right maybe you can scroll up to the maternity work right that you said was personal yeah all right what inspired this is is it the fact that you've experienced this before you're passionate about it I think so I mean before I was pregnant I didn't really get into maternity shoots but suddenly once I was pregnant people started requesting and I think it's just a beautiful stage of life and I think it's really beautiful for people to yeah get that pictures taken and be able to remember to remember it all right yeah you ate some butter in the morning so it's a beautiful stage in life yeah it really like capturing beautiful things in beautiful stages in life right that white 5 4 channel on Twitter white 5 for and the school channel on Instagram and white 5 4 on Facebook is the way to reach us hashtag is why in the morning hashtag is freestyle Friday Tatiana Caranjo on Instagram aka mama olive is the person we have in studio with us to share the photography journey with us so I'd like to know traveling I've seen a lot of traveling I can tell you travel a lot to take these pictures yes this one is quite scary for me you had to get close to this it was in the orphanage they were behind a fence all right so how do you balance having a family having two kids now and traveling to to pursue your dream well really I'm actually very lucky with the job that I have because again it's not a nine to five job so I get to spend a lot of time with my family and a lot of time at work as well but also people are surprisingly very accommodating so when I traveled I did travel at the time with my eldest Olive I traveled with her wherever I went and people were very accommodating I would have a room with her and also our nanny would come with us so it was a lot of pictures of olive she's really lucky she's like going to have a life documented yeah from the job it's good to have a mama with the photographer all right so mm-hmm I'm looking for a picture that I saw in your Instagram this is your website rather yeah this is my blog yeah your website or your blog so you write as well to accompany the pictures well yeah I'd like to have a blog where I talk about my motherhood journey and then also I do get paid paid partnerships where I also put put that on my blog but my website for photography is completely separate to this this is yeah more of my motherhood journey and just what I yeah what we're going through all right so maybe a lot of moms watch why in the morning so maybe you can share with them how they can get to this particular blog your camera is number four yeah for this blog you just go to www.mama-olive.com and yeah if you want to follow anything mother-related please do go check out at Mama Olive K on Instagram yeah some of the things that you talk about on this I mean I talk about everything from just I'm very personal with the stuff that I share so I make it very personal to me and I talk about weight I talk about you know going through ups and downs during your pregnancy I talk about how to get breast milk I took I mean I talk about a lot of things talking about weight you're also passionate about fitness yeah I am yes yes I am so did that start after you became a mom or before no before so I mean during in school I was very fit I used to do all sorts of sports and then which one was your favorite hockey and rounders I would say hockey and rounder yeah swimming at one point yeah alright so you played hockey till high school yeah and then suddenly I started gaining a lot of weight and I just became very unfit unfit unhealthy and very unhappy because of that so just in university I started working out a lot and yeah it just became a passion again yeah to start working out just becoming healthy all right feeling good about myself really what are some of the tips you can give the photographers out the three must have three must have well definitely a good lens my favorite lens 24 to 70 that is just such a versatile lens that I think that every photographer should have in their kid if any lens that you should have that one a good eye don't don't let people put you down whatever whatever you think that you you love doing or you love focusing on do that because that's what makes you unique and yeah camera of course yes I like that you chose the right day to come to white in the morning because we play games on Friday do you like games yes I do like games so these are some questions that I see photographers post online some of them say they hate these questions some of them say they can't take it anymore so I'd like to know if you've heard them before and you can answer them as well okay all right so Canon only are you a Canon or Nikon guy have you ever had this question yes all the time I'm a Canon solely because I started off with Canon and I'm just not gonna switch I don't have anything against Nikon you don't have anything against Nikon no but this is why you started yes and you're staying there yeah yeah I mean I know and you're sticking to it all right how soon will these be online after you take pictures of people have you had this question before house yes all the time in my contract state how long each like a wedding takes this time portrait session takes this time so that they know that they cannot ask me for them within a day I like that you mentioned your contract in your contracts use state yeah so it's very important as a photographer to have contracts as well yes I mean oh man being a photographer in Kenya is really terrible I mean I feel like people don't take you seriously so having a good contract is very important yeah always very important to draft your contract yes I have professional relations with yes yeah I like that I'm getting tips as we play this game all right are you going to send me copies of all these shots no I'm not going to send you copies of all the shots I'm gonna send you my top edited images please don't ask me for all the shots yeah I like that all right can you make me look good thin and amazing oh I hate that I'm just like why why and then also a lot of people ask me to Photoshop a lot of the face and I'm like well if you you should hire somebody to do this beforehand so I don't have all the work afterwards because some people they they really don't take shoots seriously like I've said they'll hire you they'll want you to do a fashion shoot but they won't hire a makeup artist they won't hire a hairstylist they won't hire a good stylist yeah and it's really important I mean I'm not gonna be able to make all of this stuff happen post I mean editing so I say I want to have a fashion shoot do I have to bring my own director or your you're going to know I'll direct but I mean depending on how you want the images to look you'll need to take the whole shoot seriously so have all the people that available that we need available yeah so we I think I have the last three okay have you ever heard this pick-up line before my cousin is also a photographer no oh my brother oh my sister you've never had this is that a pick-up line this questions I got them online from a photography group so these are some of the things they experience in the line of duty so the last one I think we have the last one wow that's a big camera I bet it takes amazing pictures yes all the time all the time I hear that one and then also the other one is all you have to do is click a button that those two no yeah apparently it's just that's it this is your chance tell them what it takes to get a good picture oh I mean I think you have dedication passion I mean you need an eye for photography you're not just going to snap you're not just clicking a button otherwise everybody could do it yeah yeah you need the eye photographer yeah of course definitely your lighting I mean every photographer is different I work with natural light and a lot of people like studio lighting so everybody's different but yeah lighting is very important lighting is very important as we come to the end of this what is the next thing you're getting into the Hamzell project well hopefully this year a lot more traveling around Kenya that's my that's my plan so we'll see fingers crossed I have a lot of plans but I don't want to say with this traveling around Kenya and documenting well I mean firstly I'd like to just get some beautiful pictures of Kenya just to document the life we live I mean I really hated when I went abroad and people were very back with thinking towards Kenya and towards just everything about our culture and everything like that all they know is what they see on BBC and CNN exactly so I mean I just love to give people a different perspective but then also the fact is I'd also like to learn a lot more about Kenya myself so that's also why I'd like to travel around Kenya a lot more even my daughters I'd love them to learn more about Kenya I think growing up I also was very educated with British system yeah British system so and I feel like you missed something yeah I did I missed a lot about Kenya and that's so shameful so I would just like to educate myself a bit more yeah I like that all right so do you think it's tougher for ladies in this industry no I don't know I've not experienced that no all right to all the ladies out there will be complaining it's so tough for ladies in the photography industry oh my god oh my god yes you heard it don't complain pick up that camera get a good lens get a good eye or practice your eyes for this thing all right so as we come to the end of this your social media handles again so they can stalk you and then book you if they'd like to and then you can give them the information on how they can book okay so to book me just email me what you'd like I'll send you my rate card my contract you'll have a look at it see if it's okay but you can follow me at at Tatiana Karanja for my photography or at Mama Olive K for my motherhood journey and my website is www.tatianakaranja.com to see more of my work so we are playing Kenyan music today so I'd like you to request one song before we go oh my gosh there was a song that I heard yesterday on radio by the band Becca I don't remember what it's called but maybe you can play any song by them because I really like any song by band becker we are going to find that do you have any song by band becker vdj Khalifa yes as vdj Khalifa lines that up thank you very much for coming thank you so much and thank you very much for what you're doing online for the for the country as well thank you just showing the other side of Kenya that people don't know thank you very much yes so this is why in the morning freestyle Friday I go by the name of by Moses or it's by morning we social media platform today's photography edition on why in the morning on freestyle Friday vdj Khalifa is about to take it away with Tatiana Karanja's request band becker