Raymond Mfon’s Photography Locates the Subjects’ Stories

Raymond Mfon has the creative instinct. Some people are very good at one thing through years of practice or an innate ability; few - like Raymond - have the creative disposition that they can bring to just about anything. By ‘day’ Raymond is Tag’s studio manager for the retouching team, a role he’s held for over eight years. In that time, he’s worked on CGI and animation jobs too, transitioning to look after the post production that Tag’s shoot production team does.

His creative roots, however, reach much further than that.

One of Raymond’s first creative ventures was the clothing brand, Happy Chap, which was worn by multiple musicians, including Ed Sheeran. He started the brand while still at university as a bit of an experiment that grew in success over the five years that he ran it. As for photography, Raymond says he was a big fan from a young age though he didn’t start to explore it properly until 2016. “One of my friends, a musician, asked me if I would join him on tour to help with photography and styling. He didn’t have the budget to pay a professional,” Raymond laughs while recalling the story. “I had no camera, no anything, but I had a passion to help a friend out.”

Raymond says that he knew the basics of photography, but he didn’t have his own camera or have the skills to take professional-grade photos. He reached out to a then-colleague and talented photographer, Mark Diamond, asking for a crash-course in how to capture images. “He recommended a low budget camera, which I bought, showed me the basics and then with that knowledge I spent two weeks going around the UK shooting for my friend’s tour.”

“I got thrown in the deep end, and everything that I would’ve spent maybe two, three years learning about photography, I had to learn within those two weeks,” Raymond says.

A year later, another opportunity popped up at the right time. Raymond’s friend living in Uganda invited him along. After some hesitation, he decided to join the trip and take the time to further develop his photography skills, especially street photography and portraiture. “I bought a new camera and two weeks later I was in Uganda. I threw myself into photography.”

He really wanted to take portraits, but Raymond discovered that he was too nervous to ask the locals to take their picture. “Even asking the questions felt like climbing a mountain.” He turned to street photography in the meantime, honing his eyes on the seemingly mundane to find the real story, the casual beauty of what others might miss. Raymond is nothing but humble when discussing his eye for a good picture. “If you ask me to break down the science and the specifics of the process, I won’t be able to do that in a way that someone who studied photography could. But I do think that God has given me a gift to see and capture moments.” That first trip to Uganda put Raymond in touch with his surroundings, and the omnipresence of a camera around his neck helped him attune to different moments, to locate their significance.

After returning to the UK, Raymond knew that he needed to continue growing as a photographer. “I didn’t really know what direction I wanted to take my photography in, but I decided to offer my service and time to my church, taking photos, and this is where I truly learned that I loved capturing moments. It helped me craft my skill and I believe this was where the seed was planted that has been growing ever since,” he explains. 

A creative sabbatical

In 2020, Raymond decided it was time for a sabbatical to further develop his passion for photography. (We all know why that didn't go to plan.) Fast forward to 2023 and the idea was still fresh in his mind. With full support of his manager at Tag, Raymond and his family embarked on another trip to Uganda, travelling to Kampala for three months to witness the good work that his friend, a head teacher at a school, and others were carrying out. “I love my managers; they were really supportive. It’s not always the easiest to get something like this signed off but they all encouraged me to go,” Raymond says.

In Kampala, Raymond spent time immersing himself in the local community and culture, getting to know the individuals that would later feature in his photos. “It was a very holistic trip with a lot of road trips to see the projects my friend is involved in. I spent a lot of time with the locals and made some really great friends; everyone was really welcoming and made me feel at home,” he recalls. It was on this trip that Raymond felt his photography really start to evolve. He moved away from being, in his own words, “trigger happy” and towards “shooting because you see the story, you’re aware of your surroundings and environment.” He spent days getting to know people and their stories so when the time to photograph them came, some of that biography would make it into the final images.

One photo from the trip particularly stands out for Raymond. After a five-hour walking trip, he was walking through a village when he spotted a young boy in the distance. The boy was perfectly framed by a half tire in the ground - a frame within a frame. Raymond snapped just three pictures, fast, before the boy moved. The second shot captured the light shining on the boy’s silhouette and his figure in that impossibly precise spot. When posting the image to his Instagram, Raymond wrote: “Sometimes your favourite photograph isn’t planned. Sometimes it’s simply being in the right place at the right time. When that time comes there’s an excitement and a rush. Time seems to stand still, but not for long. The race is on, because what you see, you know in a moment will be gone. But, when you fire that shutter and capture that moment, it’s a moment in time captured forever.”

Raymond took thousands of photos on his trip. He captured the beauty of the landscapes, the energy of the children, and the daily life of locals. When he returned to Tag from his sabbatical, the head of photography, Amanda Wallis, suggested that more people need to see his work. The result is an upcoming exhibition, which he’s planning to title ‘EWAFE’, at Tag’s London HQ. On display will be many of Raymond’s favourite and treasured photos from the trip. For Raymond, it’s an opportunity to “honour the people that I met out there and the projects that are supporting those communities.” Kitintale Skate Park (supported by Skate Aid Uganda and the Uganda Skateboard Union), East Coast Boxing Club, and Groundbreaker Talents.

While the exhibition will be free to attend, visitors are encouraged to make a charitable donation towards the charities and community projects that are dear to Raymond’s heart; the donations can be monetary or in the form of a books or an item of clothing, all of which will go towards the great work that Raymond observed and documented being done in Kampala.

Raymond’s exhibition, EWAFE, will launch on 16th November with a private, intimate event, and it will remain on display at Tag HQ until the end of the year. If you are visiting Tag over the next few months, come and see Raymond’s work for yourself. If you would like to register interest in attending the launch event, please click here.