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View Finder: Photographer Jude Lartey and the Case for Slowness

In View Finder, EE72 rides along as a photographer opens the door to his world.

There’s something powerful about artists who take their time – not just with their work, but with the world. Watching, listening and absorbing the everyday. That quiet discipline runs through the work of Ghanaian imagemaker Jude Lartey, whose photographs invite you to look – and then look again. Whether it’s a portrait framed by Accra’s coastal communities or a surreal campaign for Converse, his images linger.

Lartey isn’t just a photographer, he’s an architect of feeling, memory and meaning. He talks about swimming at Jamestown beach with his dad, and the legacy of his grandfather – a bodyguard for Kwame Nkrumah, the first prime minister and president of Ghana – who first introduced him to the power of the family photo album. “For me, image making is building something from scratch,” he explains. “The set, the emotion… you are the engine behind it all.”

His creative compass remains fixed on Ghana’s coast. Lartey’s reverence for Accra’s fishing communities, especially the village of Moree, runs deep. “There’s freedom there,” he says. “You can be who you want to be.” The colors, rituals, pace, the individual stories and energy – all feed his creativity.

“Land of the Morees”, his “baby,” is an ongoing documentary love letter to the coastal village. He keeps in touch with many residents – not as subjects, but as real-life connections – and plans to return again and again as the story evolves. His perspective is shaped not only by where he’s from and where he continues to create, but also by a desire to explore the wider world. From personal projects like “Land of the Morees” to editorial stories exploring masculinity with softness and strength, his lens is intentional and emotionally rich.

“Sometimes it takes two weeks to finish a single concept,” he says. “I don’t rush. I respect the process.” A 25-year-old with an old soul and a sharp eye (he shoots on an iPhone), Lartey chooses collaborators by feel, trusting chemistry over clout. “It has to sit right with me.”