Abandoned resort E-Session!
If you saw this location prior to me shooting there, I’m almost certain you would have looked at me sideways especially if I said I was going to photograph an engagement session there! This now abandoned resort appeared to be a far cry from its former glory days. The dilapidated and abandoned facilities were now hurricane damaged and now occupied by overgrown weeds, vines and trees.
Now I’d photographed Elena before and we always kept in touch and when she approached me about shooting her engagement session I was excited about doing the honour. She became more excited by convincing me that she wanted to do the shoot on a certain property, one she had sent me photos prior to. At first it did raise a few eyebrows especially after seeing these images but I embraced the challenge and I accepted.
“This shoot was incredibly special for us because of our connection to the location and our story as a couple. We have shared 8 beautiful years together and recently purchased our first home in this area 2 years ago... so we thought, what better place to shoot than in our backyard, the place we spent the most time together! ”
I wanted to show you the images Elena sent to me…
I decided that I’d want to shoot closer to sunset because the resort faced the ocean on the western side of the island where the sunsets were typically the most dramatic. More so, I hoped to get good golden hour light for lifestyle imagery. Styling wasn’t an issue either. Elena was a little bit of a hippie so she told me she wanted a “boho chic” look which I agreed with. Hank, on the other hand, would need more convincing. He’s very laid back and doesn’t like cameras or the limelight so getting him to “dress up for photos” became a running joke between Elena and I. Hank eagerly fell in line with the plan.
“Who knew Scharad could turn my man into a model in these photos!.... I was low key jealous when I saw how amazing he came out in them!”
The shoot went even better than we initially planned. Elena’s close friend and MUA Erica Bogart had flown in from Miami that same day and jumped right into makeup upon arrival. She was fast too! I brought along my Nikon D850, 2 lenses, the 85mm f1.8 and the 24-70 f2.8 and B1 light from Profoto to mix both the artificial and ambient light together and it worked out great. At first, I shot the couple in natural light but as the sun set in our blue skies, I brought out the strobe to balance the strobe light with my ambient light.
Hank and Elena’s chemistry was great. I barely gave them any direction.
Elena prior to the photoshoot told me,
“We just want to be ourselves and not overthink how we should pose or interact,” to which I happily obliged because this was particularly my preferred method of capturing these types of themes.
I can't stress enough how beautiful the light was and frame after frame my team and I salivated and got weak in the knees at how the light worked so well with us to create the photos.
Please enjoy the couple’s gallery below.
“Shooting with Scharad and his team was amazing. They were patient, creative and beyond talented.They captured our personalities with ease and caught that sunlight at such perfection that it felt surreal”
I rethought maternity sessions after this one!
Tonya Lightbourne
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
Superstar DJ Ignite ( BTS) photographed at World's Top Studio!
Check out this behind the scenes video from my recent shoot with superstar DJ, Ignite shot at the Sanctuary Studios at Albany Bahamas. Using custom vinyl records, earphones and an iced out chain, we branded Ignite with great props and of course Ignite brought the hype!
One of the most amazing aspects of my work is that I often get opportunities to photograph amazing talents from my country ( 🇧🇸), local celebrities so to speak and by capturing their likeness, I somehow cement them in the fabric of Bahamian culture.
Sean Ferguson a.k.a. Dj Ignite is arguably the best DJ in the region and he approached me many months back to produce and style him for an updated press kit. I was already excited to work with him because we had shot him before but now we were both better at our crafts and it was time for an updated look.
Ignite has played for many events as he is one of the most sought-after DJs in the country, he’s played for celebs like Tiger Woods, Shaquille O'Neal, Dak Prescott and many others. I already felt the pressure to get great images of this exciting and dynamic talent!
So during the planning stages, Ignite called me up and asked if I wanted to shoot at the Sanctuary, a state of the art, top 5 in the world music recording studio and without having seen it prior, I agreed without hesitation. I could go on and on but instead, I decided to film this video that should help explain how awesome of a shoot this really was.
Please enjoy.
Theodore Elyett, Fashion Designer Lifestyle Shoot
Theodore Elyett has been a premier designer in The Bahamas for quite some time, so when he approached me about shooting new lifestyle images of him for a brand, I felt honored to do so. Theo has won countless awards, been featured in multiple publications and was the 2015 winner of Mission Catwalk, a reality show competition for caribbean designers held in Jamaica last year.
Theo and I had several brainstorming sessions and we mapped out the look and feel for his shoot. His looks were going to be simple with monochromatic styling and different fabrics that ranged from plaid to houndstooth to tweed. Theo worked with fashion stylist Igee Okafor to help complete the looks. Very clean, very "artsy."
Our location, Harry's Haven was the perfect setting for the shoot combining both victorian and an "island chic" decor. We had really great spaces to work with and TONS of natural light, which I always embrace with a big smile. Theo took direction like a professional and threw in spots of his fun, outgoing personality which made for great frames.
Video: Ashley Whitney
Styling: Igee Ofakor
Grip: Malik Smith
Grip: Shawn Hanna
Carolyn Carter for Ale by Alessandra
I got an email from Carolyn late one evening introducing herself saying that she was in The Bahamas and wanted to shoot lifestyle swimwear images for her blog. She told me that she connected with Alessandra Ambrosio, former Vicky Secret model who was now going into her own line of swimwear and that she had a few of the pieces to shoot with. I always jump at opportunities like these because it allows me to work with foreigners and ultimately grow my network.
Carolyn and I met a few days after to discuss a concept for the shoot and to look at the pieces that we would use to style her in. She was very easy going and assured me she could do her own hair and makeup, meaning that I would be working with a smaller team. Of course I didn't mind this as it would cut down on prep time and allow me to focus on shooting. We planned for a sunrise shoot, scouted our locations at Albany Bahamas and even secured a few four-legged models for the set.
My team and I woke up around 4am that morning to make sure we would be punctual on set. We arrived only to be greeted with a spread of deli meats, fruits, pastries and beverages which would surely provide us with fuel for the shoot...which of course we did not turn down!
The shoot ran great, particularly, the lighting. I love using natural light where I can and the lighting was almost perfect all day. I was able to diffuse the bright sun, bounce the light, which lit my model beautifully. Additionally, using my NIKKOR 85mm f1.4 lens created great flares and bokeh frames and awesome depth of field compositions.
See images from the shoot below.
Eve
I was nervous about this concept…at first. I wondered if I would go too far in getting a message across and if people wouldn’t relate or grasp what I was trying to say as a photographer. As a child I’d always seen the portrayal of “Eve” as a beautiful Caucasian woman so my imagination got the best of me and I decided to go against all the imagery I had previously seen in any biblical illustration.
I wanted to stay clean, within my style, conceptualizing elements that would add to my overall canvas. If Eve were a black woman, what would she look like? Would she be tall, short, skinny or fat? Would her hair be natural, straight, up or down? How would I show her creation, her temptation, her becoming more aware of herself and body?
To do this I put together a group of talented and visionary people in the industry that I felt would carry this concept like it was their own. Creative director, David Rolle pieced the looks together for Eve, orchestrating hair and makeup to follow.MUA, Mandisa Kerr worked her magic brush craftily added the right accents and contours to our models face. Hair stylist, Jameelah Thompson along with her assistant Lovena Magloire created amazing crowns of hair to place on our model that fit the theme.
As expected finding a model to play the role of Eve had its challenges. Because of the reptilian element, many models were skeptical about the representation or meaning behind a very recognizable prop. Selvinique Wright however was down the second I was finished explaining the concept to her. She was in and that was all. On set she moved her body and shaped her poses into works of soft and sultry sentences allowing David to form her into the character “Eve.”
