Tip Toe lane, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, is a 24-hour busy street. Lots of shops dealing in a variety of goods and services line up the street which has the Modern Photo Company Limited (MPCL) as one of its major landmark.
MPCL has been on Tip Toe lane since January 1955. Regarded by many as the nation's leading portrait studio, the company is also known for the photographs of musicians, actors and other show business personalities which it has displayed on its outside walls since 1966. Very few people now walk on Tip Toe lane without looking at the portraits exhibite at what is reffered as 'the little street gallery' or 'the Modern Photo wall of fame'.
Sam Pobee Jnr., who is now in charge of MPCL said; "Some people have heard of certain names but have not met them or do not know how they look like. We identify each person in a photograph by name so people often stop to have a good look".
The whole exercise started with Pobee Snr who at a certain stage, also managed the Tip Toe Gardens Night Club. It was one of the top entertainment spots in the country in the 1960s and early 1970s. It attracted all the big names in local music as well as foreign bands that visited this country.
Local bands that played regularly at Tip Toe included K. Gyasi's Noble Kings, King Bruce's Black Beats and Uhuru. The rest include Armed Forces Dance Band, Black Santiago, El Polos, The Saints, Super Eagles, Jerry Hansen's Ramblers and Pobee Snr's own bands, Honkies, Blue Monks and Adams Apple. The last two bands featured singers like Pat Thomas, Andy Vans and Pee Pee Dynamite.
With his passion for photography, Pobee Snr often took photos of musicians performing in the club and crossed the street with them to the studio to take portraits. Initially displaying the portraits just for the fun of it, passers-by started noticing them and asking when this or that person's portrait would be out there. Whose photograph goes up is completely at the discretion of MPCL. Pobee Jnr says thousands of photos have been displayed since the practice started. Since the display area is small, photos that have been up for a while are taken off and replaced by a new set. Show business personalities now enquire how they can get photos taken and displayed by MPCL.
"Some of them come and tell us they heard favourable comments on the photos in town and would like to know how they can get theirs into the collection", said Pobee Jnr.
Personalities who have had their photos on the Modern Photo wall over the years are those made mark in the Ghanaian show business: Kojo Antwi, Paapa Yankson, Okyeremah Asante, C.K. Manu, Thomas Frimpong, Mac Tontoh, Prof. Kofi Abraham, Master Kwabena Akwaboah, Smart Nkansah, Potato, Sammy Odoh, Felix Bell, Safohene Djeni, The rest are K.K. Kabobo, J.A. Adofo, Ivy Stone, Afro Moses, Gemann, Joe Mensah, A.B. Crentsil, Amakye Dede
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The portraits are done and put out there for free. They are in black and white which Pobee Jnr says is the real test of good photography. "We started in black and white and still do a lot of work in it. We are even into digital photography now but we have not discarded the black and white because every true professional photographer takes pride in how well he can work in that medium", Pobee Snr is now 72 yars old and on retirement. He comes from Mankessim in the Central Region. At one time a newspaper vendor, he pursued his hobby of photography as a boy using an old Kodak box camera to take photos of his friends. His hobby turned into an obsession and he later had professional training in Germany, Britain, the United States and Belgium.
MPCL will be 50 years old next January and the management is looking forward to a major exhibition of some of the memorable photos in its collection. That would be an exciting moment to see not only the stars of years gone-by but also some of those still making waves today.
