Behind the Scenes

Even though it may not seem like much from the outside, the time and effort required to create the perfect photo are substantial in the final product.

Bear in mind I started out in the corporate world and years later fell in love with photography and have decided to start a business. It is a crazy idea, especially considering my age, but I really enjoy it. I didn't get the opportunity to take creative images in school, and I never had teachers to push me or help me with creative concepts. I was always into sports and physical activity. So I have to be my own teacher and give myself assignments to:

• Push myself creatively
• Continue to build and improve my portfolio
• Collaborate with other creatives

In order to improve my portfolio, I recently did a photoshoot with Shayne a surfer who has some great tattoos on his upper body. Shayne is not local, he hails from Canada and was in Barbados for a while having fun surfing.

The first and obvious challenge is making contact especially when you don’t know the individual. Sometimes it might feel like a proposition, especially if the potential subject is female, though this is far from the case, so the approach has to be carefully thought out. With Shayne it was a pretty cool approach with a simple question “how would you like a photoshoot to show off those tattoos” - it then went on from there.

Once a date and time has been sorted out the location becomes an issue. I prefer a studio setting for the simple fact that the finished image will not have any distractions and the finished image focuses on the subject - not the scene the subject is in. If an outside location is required you then have to scout for a suitable place with the correct background that would be free as possible from distractions or objects that would take away from the subject.  A number of considerations go into this, especially safety and accessibility. With Shayne, the location was nearby where he was staying, and near a coffee shop for when the photoshoot was finished - which was very handy for afterwards.

The day of the shoot comes and I have to prepare the studio and ensure all the lights are working, have outfits available of which I have 5 for women (still working on a couple of outfits for men). If it is a location shoot I have to pack everything, including lights, props, and batteries (very easy to forget), and double and triple-check that I have everything.

Once the shoot is complete I go through the images and select the images that are not completely in focus and file them separately - these will usually be deleted later. I then go through the remaining images and mark the ones that I like the best. I look specifically for connection, expression, and realism of the pose. Of these images, I select what I think are the 10 best and I edit these removing skin blemishes, colour correction, and lightening and darkening selected areas. I may change the background to a more suitable tone for the simple reason that I currently don’t have a lot of backgrounds to choose from - it’s basically black/dark grey or a pinkish/skin tone for choice. If it is a location shoot then I go through all the backgrounds and removed all the distracting elements that move the viewer's eyes away from the subject. I may even totally replace the background if I believe there are too many distracting elements.

I have got this process down to approximately 30 minutes per image but in practice, I need to get to the stage of 15-20 minutes per image. Either way, it’s quite a bit of time but doing this allows me to create beautiful images that will provide many memories.

I haven’t even mentioned going through the equipment and making sure everything works and cleaning lenses and removing dust spots. Further, even though I regard myself as a professional, I still take the time to educate myself, practice and enroll in photography courses to improve my skills because I know that there is always room for improvement. 

The work I do behind the lens is more than just pointing and shooting a camera, it’s a reflection of all the practice I’ve put in to perfect each and every moment.