Scharad Lightbourne 7/11/21 Scharad Lightbourne 7/11/21

Leo Creary, wedding photographer models in editorial for his 30th birthday

Leo Creary, a gifted wedding photographer, called me very excited about his 30th birthday. In fact, every year, I shoot Leo for some occasion but turning 30 was a milestone for him, and he shared a few concepts with me. I’ve photographed Leo for years, and you may recognize our work together from shooting him and his wife Keva’s fantastic wedding in Bimini, The Bahamas. I enjoy working with Leo as he always gives me creative control for photographing him, and it didn’t take me long to come up with styling for the photographer.

I wanted a rugged background because Leo was going to be styled in some pretty dapper suits. A cream, pinstripe, and 3-piece suits, but there was one more piece missing. I thought a vintage Land Rover would have been perfect, and in my search, I could not find an owner willing to let me use their vehicle. So I moved onto plan b to source my dream SUV, a Jeep Wrangler JL. I called a buddy of mine who I knew would say yes right away…and he did!

Once we arrived at our location, I tested a few shots with artificial light, but I decided to shoot natural. I hadn’t shot natural for some time. I’ve become a strobe nut, and I’ve been shooting more studio work, but being outdoors in that fantastic location just sparked that in me. The area we shot at was primarily used for landfills, and the white limestone rocks bounced light all around me. It was heaven. I photographed Leo in and around the vehicle, trying to tell a story with the images.

Leo was natural, posing and moving his body to complement the lens. We did shots still, moving and took risks climbing the limestone to get great pictures from different perspectives. I loved how the images turned out. Please enjoy them below.

Scharad Lightbourne 12/5/18 Scharad Lightbourne 12/5/18

Kenton Ferguson fashionably conquers Downtown Nassau in "9-5"

Kenton Ferguson approached me several months back to help him produce a model portfolio for him. He’d been on this fitness journey for some time and he was starting to get some attention from agencies both local and abroad but the one thing they kept telling him was that he needed more photography. More photos they said! We did a few headshots, simple studio shots and a few lifestyle images of the upcoming model.

So if you press fast forward a few months later, Kenton said that he’s ready to build his portfolio again but with fashion images outside of the studio. As the light bulb goes off in my head, I'm 10 steps ahead of him, thinking of the perfect location and looks Id want him to wear. I told him that this was definitely possible and that we could start planning right away. All the key pieces were already in place.

I had wanted to produce and style a men’s shoot for some time involving suits and style them with multiple pieces and so in this case, Kenton would be my muse. Fine Threads, one of my long-standing clients provided clothing for the shoot and I would call on some of my fashionable friends like Kedar Clarke, Giorgio Knowles, Relish Socks and The Pico Brand to fill in the gaps.

Only 1 thing was missing…a female accomplice for one particular scene. You see, I set up the concept to involve Kenton as a working professional in the Downtown Nassau area. So the frames would consist of him in and around downtown, tagging his co-worker along the way. After we cast Katrina to play the role, local Boutique Chic Couture added specific looks for Kenton’s partner in crime.

2 and a half days of shooting, 1 damsel in distress, nearly 20 hours and 2000 frames later, this is perhaps the biggest shoot I’ve produced for the year. The team came together to kill (figuratively speaking) each set. A water ferry, scooter, closed streets, coffee shops and a trained beast all pieced together this smorgasbord of photography.

It was perfect.