Battles of Men has a new cover. And there’s a good story behind it.
All thanks to world renowned photographer, Rod Mclean! McLean is an American Photographer who for decades, has traveled the world capturing stunning images of life and beauty. He’s named among the Archive’s 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide, And has worked with diverse organizations across the globe including the US Army, Italics Winery in Nepa, Runner’s World Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Reebok, Puma, Timbuk2, Oakley, Rolex and many more (See all Rod’s works at www.rodmclean.com).
Mrs Atabo and Mr Mclean
So here’s how it all happened; Atabo Mohammed is a huge fan of Rod’s work and ‘Dan Kwaba’ is one of his best images.
“Personally,” Mr Atabo wrote in an email to McLean, “I feel {Dan Kwaba} is a perfect sketch of... Africa'. (It) maintains that idiosyncratic valour and resilience worth noting.” He believes Dan Kwaba’ is powerful, with an engaging voice.
Dan Kwaba and the New Cover
McLean does have a fond memory of the image; “Don Kwaba was a character to say the least.” He wrote back, “I was living in a neighboring village and on each passing through the village, he would ask me in french to give him 5 cents. He was a WWll veteran, fought for France, I believe he was actually stationed in Europe... Upon seeing his picture he got very excited and started running around the village showing everyone and saying that finally his great grandchildren would have something to remember him by.”
Rod had lived in West Africa for four years and actually went about in his spare time searching out people for portraits. “I could not ask for more beautiful people to photograph.” He said in reference to the experience
‘Dan Kwaba is appropriate for the cover picture,” Atabo buttressed further, “because the thematic statements of the book revolves around human struggles to demystify some of life’s vague concepts (the thin feeble lines between loss and self-discovery, religion and ethnicity, love and hate, tradition and bondage). And bringing all these together presents you with a powerful and deeply engaging sketch.
Read more about the book here