My favourite photo of myself was taken by my younger brother, Kofi, during my graduation from nursing school in Accra, in Ghana, about four years ago. He was only fifteen then and had borrowed my father's phone for the day.
It was taken just after the ceremony, outside the main hall, in the late afternoon when the light was turning golden. The official photographer had already taken all the stiff, formal pictures of me holding my certificate, but this one is different.
In the picture, I'm in my white uniform and the black gown, and I'm in the middle of throwing my cap into the air. My head is tilted back, I'm laughing with my mouth wide open, and my eyes are almost closed. You can see a couple of my classmates beside me, also mid-jump, and behind us there's a big tree and part of the crowd. It's a little out of focus at the edges, but that somehow makes it feel more alive.
I like it so much because it captures exactly how I felt at that moment. Nursing school was extremely hard. I worked part-time in a shop throughout, and there were nights I thought I'd never finish. In most photos of me I look serious or I'm posing, but in this one I look completely free and happy. I also love that Kofi took it. He was very proud of me that day, and he's now studying photography himself. He says that picture is what made him want to do it. I've printed it and put it above my desk, and whenever I have a terrible shift, I look at it.