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 jumped at this opportunity to work with twins!!
Clients: Santia and Anaya Dean
Photography: Scharad Lightbourne
MUA: Ruth Rolle
Hair Styling: Whitney Miller
Hair Provider: Amani Hair
Grips: Catina Ferguson and Rayandra Nairn
When MUA (makeup artist) Ruth Rolle approached me about shooting natural look, I was excited because she’s a very talented and passionate MUA and she’s someone who is always excited about her work. Initially speaking, she expressed that she wanted to shoot something different, natural, with clean looks, very little distracting elements and she wanted to shoot twins! What photographer wouldn’t jump at a chance to work with twins and a professional makeup artist?
Now, the challenge would be finding twins worth photographing and I remembered that a colleague of mine, Lavado Stubbs knew twins but freakishly upon visiting his Facebook profile to find them, in the friend suggestions panel, there in my face was one of the twins! I wrote her a note and the next day she responded with a “yes, sure, we’d love to!”
Now, this is a tricky subject because I am absolutely terrified of approaching people to photograph them because I’m always afraid to hear the words “no, thanks.” and yes its happened to me before but Ruth really liked their look and so I took the risk of asking.
We had a production meeting and kept things simple. Ruth wanted to do a “dewy” look on the twins, keeping the making light and minimal. She said, “I want their skin to look flawless and moist keeping the tones smooth and even.”
We shot in studio and I used 1 LED light on a 5ft Octobox, keeping the lighting consistent to match the even skin tone of the twins. Whitney Miller, my hair stylist is really good with natural hair textures so she styled the girls and added more volume by sourcing pieces from Amani Hair. These inexperienced models were great in front of the camera lens and my team worked well.
Please enjoy the images.
I shot my first fragrance campaign!
There aren't any words that can express how excited I was when I got the call from Bahari.
“A fragrance?? I asked?
“You need an ad campaign?” I asked?
I was over the moon because ever since I became a full-time photographer I would drool over magazine ads displaying different fragrances and colognes and I would marvel at how awesome the photography was. So, to now have an opportunity to photograph my own was mind-blowing. I was happy that Bahari was continuing to push the envelope and produce more incredible products for fans of the brand.
With two incredible models as part of my arsenal, the team and I created images against a romantic and irresistible background. The lighting was perfect, hair and makeup were on point and the team, as always, worked seamlessly to get the job done. What was even better was the chemistry between our models. They were uber professional but followed direction to the letter. This was obviously not their first time working together and by jumping from frame to frame, that very same chemistry carried over every time.
I styled, photographed and directed both the still images and video needed for this campaign. Something I’m trying to do more of. Please enjoy.
WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO
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Beautiful couple shoot whimsical maternity photos at Ocean Club Bahamas
Photography + Styling: Scharad Lightbourne
MUA: Regina McCook
Grip: Wayde Stubbs
BTS: Rayandra Nairn
Location: Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort
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 ❤”
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.
Keith Hinsey photographed in "Under Armour" inspired campaign at The National Stadium
I love branding and as a commercial and advertising photographer, I get to photograph commercial images for many brands from investment firms to lifestyle bloggers to fitness trainers. Keith “KJ” Hinsey is a very close friend of mine who happens to train me and in his evolution as a world-class trainer, his brand is growing every day. Keith, being the supportive friend that he is consulted with me to help him build a new website and images to match.
Keith is a huge fan and follower of the Under Armour brand and knowing this I immediately researched the UA brand and what their approach to imagery looked like. I studied the brand for months and KJ and I would watch youtube videos and pin images on Pinterest because this was going to be the direction for him and the Physique Total Fitness brand.
I advised Keith on styling, getting a few extra fitness articles of clothing, props, athletic shoes and lastly the location…
I knew the National Stadium was the only place I would want to shoot this campaign. I didn't want the conventional gym or studio as a backdrop. The only challenge would be getting permission to do so. However, after calling someone who knew someone who knew the General Manager, the National Sports Authority eagerly agreed and assisted in giving me full access to the stadium and its grounds.
There was one more piece of the puzzle that I needed to make this campaign extra special and that was a cinematic promotional video. I came across Jiggy Productions some time ago and I had a sit down with cinematographer Kyle Ferguson to help me communicate the concept through moving visuals. Kyle was excited and really wanted to get his creative teeth into such a project.
Shooting was great, we ran KJ though a multitude of routines, reps and active poses. Calling on his expertise as a trainer and using some of his own training equipment to assist us. We even added one of his clients, Kristen to a few frames to show him training an actual client. Look…I could talk about this shoot for hours but I filmed a video to show you guys just how I setup shoots like these.
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