My meeting with Shida Leni was quite short. She had a training to do with her coach Kevin O’Connor at Kyambogo University Cricket grounds ahead of the World Athletics continental tour in Nairobi.
Her manager (based in UK) had commissioned me to do a profile shoot with her and over the past couple of months, I had read a few articles here and there about the rising star, but it didn’t cross my mind that we would meet at one moment. It was also my first time shooting with an athlete and I wasn’t sure what to expect from the shoot location and the person herself.
Leni turned out to be so easy to work with and within a few minutes after meeting her, my assistant told me, “she is going to be easy to shoot”. We watched her and her coach train for a few minutes as we scouted around the grounds to see which spots would be perfect for her shots.
At the end of her training, she sat down to relax, and we grabbed our first shot. The rest of the shots too came naturally as we moved around the field and I asked her ” What kind of pose would you do here?”
I usually like to give my subject the opportunity to reveal to me what ideas they have before I bring-in mine because I have met many who have mastered the art of posing themselves and personally, such poses come out more natural.
Leni is Uganda’s record holder for the 400m and 200m. In February 2018, she ran 52.47 to break the 12-year-old 400m National Record. She has now broken this record on 7 occasions, most recently at the 2019 National Championships (51.47), where she also broke the 12-year-old 200m National Record with a time of 23.43.
