Beautiful Maternity Couple shoots at Luxurious Location.

October 06, 2020 in Maternity, People

Sometimes I feel fortunate to attract a particular type of clientele. I love shooting in new places and exceptionally beautiful homes. When Jaynna and Jamal reached out about commissioning some maternity portraits, I was ready to fill their request. Jaynna had sent me some photos of concepts she wanted to shoot, and that got me inspired to create something memorable for them.

I told Jaynna in our consultation that we needed to photograph at an amazing location. She took a few seconds to reply, but when she responded, she said: “Scharad hold on, I may have a house we can use.” Shortly after sending me photographs, I replied confidently, “this WILL work!”

We met later on that week to do a walk through the site, and this house was nothing short of amazing. Endless ceilings, perfect marble floors, sky-high glass panels and a view to marvel at were just a few of the things that sold me.

Usually, when I’m inspired by a location, I know the shoot will go well. I put together my shot-list in a few days and gathered my team to work. We shot a full day using only a third of the property, ( it was HUGE) but for me, I knew getting that shot outside on the private beach at sunset was vital. Jaynaa looked amazing in her dress and Jamal was equally as dapper in his custom look.

I was trying to be long-winded with this post, but it didn’t make sense because I wanted the images to speak for the work we did. Usually, I would have shot this natural light, but I decided to shoot using 1 strobe and a broad softbox modifier.

Please enjoy the images below.

Makeup: T’s Artistry

Hair: Tara Miller (Metamorphosis Salon)

Jamal’s Look: KIS Bespoke

PA: Kenton Ferguson Tariq Cartwright

Cinematography: Kyle Ferguson (Jiggy Productions)

WATCH THE CINEMATIC BTS VIDEO

Whimsical maternity session with Star and Carlos Palacious

June 28, 2020 in Creative, Family, People, Maternity

The more I shoot maternity sessions, the more I fall in love with this type of portrait work. My approach after a client contracts me if to create something different and I usually try to start away from the traditional pregnancy sessions I’ve seen before.

When Anastarcia aka Star approached me about shooting her maternity images, this was just the case. She wanted something unique and told me that she expected me to produce images that were whimsical beautiful and timeless. Even though my focus is the mother to be, Star insisted on including her toddler daughter Cairo and husband Carlos. That’s a lot of pressure for one shoot, right?

Star sent me a few images of what she wanted her and Cairo to wear. Seeing the dramatic dress sparked so much inspiration in me because I knew immediately after seeing the dress where I would want this to be photographed. We also selected a stylish suit and shoes for Carlos to wear which complimented the theme and then went on to think of ways to make the shoot work. We were coming off strict restrictions placed by our government due to COVID-19, so we had to take into account safety as well as her high-risk status.

In the photography world, there are ideas that you think of that are seldomly a “first”, and I googled for days under the search topic “Maternity shoot on a horse ranch.” After coming up with very little, my excitement grew even more, especially since the couple was one of colour. It took a few weeks to put together a mood board and shot list, and since I was quarantined at home, I had lots of time to perfect it. Ironically enough, we were supposed to shoot way before the country was shut down, on a much larger scale but COVID forced us to keep things simple.

We took the couple, their housekeeper and my PA and executed within our social distancing guidelines. Using one large modifier and one light, I was able to mix ambient light and an artificial strobe to create lighting that was effortless and natural. Star performed like a champ and Carlos was a good sport doing everything we needed him to do. Cairo, the couples two and a half year old gave us about 15 mins of her time before she retired back to her quarters, typical toddler behaviour!

We got beautiful shots of the family together, the couple and Mom to be, all in 45 mins before the sun went down. The location, lighting and styling all worked seamlessly together.

Please enjoy the images below.

Makeup and Hair: Anastarcia Palacios

Floral Arrangement: The Greenhouse Bahamas

Dress: Katharina Hakaj Couture

PA: Kenton Ferguson

Photography + Styling: Scharad LightbourneMUA: Regina McCookGrip: Wayde StubbsBTS: Rayandra NairnLocation: Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort — Photography + Styling: Scharad Lightbourne
MUA: Regina McCook
Grip: Wayde Stubbs
BTS: Rayandra Nairn
Location: Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort

Beautiful couple shoot whimsical maternity photos at Ocean Club Bahamas

January 27, 2019 in Lifestyle, People

Heading into the latter part of December 2018, Brent and Kim Mayson approached me about doing a maternity session for them and immediately my first reaction was, “you guys already look like supermodels so that's half the battle!” After sharing that laugh, they were both over the moon with excitement and we began to hash out ideas, looks, concepts and location for this Mayson Maternity session.

I had an “ah-ha” moment and I asked Brent, “Do you think Ocean Club would allow us to photograph on premises?”

He confidently responded, “Bro-skee, if that's what you want, its a done deal!”

Photographers around the world go bananas for a beautiful location and I am certainly no different. At this point, I was literally a minute away from doing a triple back summersault! You have no idea how badly I wanted to do a shoot like THIS on THAT property. Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort would prove to be the amazing canvas on which I would photograph this session.

Now…Kim was beyond prepared bringing her girl scout mentality to our initial brainstorm meeting. She told me she’d already secured several looks, an MUA, made her hair appointment and only needed to know what my team and I ate on set so she could provide catering…talk about a superwoman!

Shoot day was nothing short of breathless, frame after frame, Kim (for the most part) served effortless and beautiful poses. Clearly, her background as a flight attendant helped. I helped put together a few looks for Brent as well and on the brink of becoming a new Dad, I wanted him to be in some of the shots just to validate his existence. We both admitted midway through our shoot that he was just a prop.

“These pictures are beyond amazing!!! We are so incredibly happy we have such beautiful memories and will value them forever ❤”

— Kim Mayson

This was an incredible shoot for me. It took me weeks just to curate the images posted on the blog. It felt different, not the typical “maternity” session. I felt like it was my voice as I checked my camera’s display screen. That was important and I had great clients in Kim and Brent who gave me the creative freedom and the connections to shoot on this property to creatively execute this maternity session. I truly enjoyed working on this.

Please enjoy the images below.

I rethought maternity sessions after this one!

November 25, 2018 in Family, People, Lifestyle

As an artist, I never want to get comfortable with my skill set. I want to push myself, think out the box, challenge my clients and my own creativity. I want to embrace my fears and take risks with a team who will trust me and follow my lead.

I strayed away from maternity sessions for a long time because I felt I couldn’t be creative enough in a genre that is widely popular. I kept seeing the same themes over and over but i knew I wanted to create something different and equally as beautiful. I needed the opportunity and the universe listened.

When my wife and I found out we were with child, one of the first things I thought was “I know she’s going to ask me to take pictures of her once we’re in our third trimester.”

My wife challenged me to think outside the box. To, “do something different.”

Now, you know this was an opportunity for me because wives rarely listen to their husbands (lol) but she allowed me to push my creativity. The location I had in mind was a very risky one but I knew she would be a tough camper to get the shot. I had shot at Clifton Heritage National Park before and the cliffs were the perfect place to put my near parturient partner.

1 dress later via Amazon, some extra fabric, a few safety pins, an incredible floral artist and MUA were the perfect additives to bring my vision to life! The results left me and the team breathless as we climbed, jumped, lifted and risked much to capture these divine images of Tonya.

Please enjoy.

📸 Scharad Lightbourne
MUA: Ge-Ah Smith
Floral Stylist: Marie Buds
Grip: Travis J Bastian RayAndra Nairn