Just 7minutes

Make the best of every situation

I treat photography as if so much depend on it. So, when i had 7 minutes to set up, fix lighting, compose and instruct i know i had to get it right. In most cases once i get the shot that i like or looking for it either set a more composed feel to continue the shoot or to finish up the shoot. So here we are at this beautiful, vintage looking farm house and i saw a lamp next to a window. At first when i asked the model to pose under the lamp she must have been wondering what in the world am i doing. But as for me i always try to see a shot before i shoot, how i want it and how it should look and also focus my attention on one key element in the frame to help enhance the feel of the photo. This key element was the lamp. This is the fastest i have ever shot. Not that i like it because i like to have the freedom with adequate time to carefully do a shoot but given the limitations i had no choice but to accept and make do. I took about 10 snaps then left. I went home, did my thing in Photoshop and this is the result. Moral of the story, “Make it right when things aren’t right.”

13 and inspired

Model: Ryan. GIFTED AND TALENTED

Little did i know that this young lady would be this inspired. Behind her force is her mom who is a tower of support and guidance for her daughter. She is still a teenager but comes with a huge impact. Her mom who is also a designer was instrumental behind this look and ensured her daughter is always ready and prepared.

I had an “inspo” i sent and they went into “Ready” mood immediately. Never did i have to worry because the mom ensured that all was intact and asked for clarity when needed. One day the mom sent me a message about the look for the shoot and wanted to reiterate the set coordination. In my mind i am there thinking she probably ran into some items and thought they will compliment the look. A few days later i got a follow up message with a photo of a similar outfit on a manikin. I was in stunned. During the entire time the mom sourced material and made the outfit herself. Stuff like this help to inspire the narrative. Not only that but every single prop that was needed for the shoot they had already got. I had one simple task; just bring my camera.

Finally the day came. As i got my stuff together, greeted each other and spoke about the spots at the location i realized the mom had a bunch of additional items and props. I couldn’t believe how well prepared they were. They even came with their own on site changing camper. How cool is that?

So i started shooting her two youngest siblings but it was just something about them that seems different. They seemed well poised in their speech and expression along with the right gestures. Come to think of it they were actors. Little movie stars in a couple known movies. At this point i came to the realization that i might be in the presence of upcoming stars. To top it off, once i started shooting her it was so fluent and she was just so easy to work with. If i needed an emotion she was on point. Poses, she had that rhythmic motion, so confident and as she rocked her natural Afro and country girl look. One key thing is that her mom is the real MVP. She’s that tower of strength in her kids upbringing and navigation. So, my hat’s off to her. Thanks Ry, Ry, Shan, Auston and Jaxon. You guys rock!

It was like a workout but anything for the shot!

On this day we were so tired when done. The idea was to do a shoot at a waterfall but situation beyond our control when we both arrived at the location we couldn’t get in. It was a 1 hour drive to the fall so it was a bit disappointing. That didn’t stop us as we had to revert to plan b. Plan B entails driving another 45 mins to another location. We got to the location and it was so nice out we did 2 outfits. I had flash, a soft box and a light stand plus hauling other equipment back and fort. It is never about just pushing a shutter but positioning the model and getting your lighting right. Each time you change position or move your model you have to lift and carry the entire light and stand to put it where desired. We summed up the shoot in about 1.5 hour. When we were about to leave i got a text from a friend who managed to be somewhere and it was so beautiful he sent me a picture and the location. It had a mini fall. The model had another suited outfit so we decided to go just in time for sunset. Little did we know it would be a hike. The drive was another 30 mins. We got to the entrance of the location but realized there wasn’t any parking or way to get in but only by foot. We drove around for another 10 mins until we stumbled upon a Hospital and we found 2 parking spots limited to 2 hours. Now we look lost because this place doesn’t look like any waterfall would be anywhere close to here since it’s a busy town with a whole lot of buildings. We saw people walking so we followed suit and about couple blocks down out of nowhere i saw woods with a hill to climb. I had no idea that the walk would be that long.

Anyway i like adventure and i really didn’t mind plus i needed the workout. I had all the equipment walking with and i had already bent my mind on just getting it over and done with. We got through climbing the hill and at this point my knees, legs, and shoulders were crying and putting up white flags. I couldn’t let it be known as the model gracefully did her thing like it’s a regular occurrence so if i should stop at this point i would be see as a BIG chicken. Now it’s time to descend. I tried everything to try and make a short cut somewhere because they had to be a way to reach this fall quicker. lol. But we followed the dirt track behind 2 ladies we had asked for direction. Finally we made it to the bottom and this place was just a beautiful secluded park, people jogging, picnicking, walking their dogs and just hanging out. You would not have known that something like that was sitting back there. The walking didn’t stop there as we had to walk for another 20 minutes until we came up on this beautiful river with such a nice scenery. The entire time i was thinking to myself, “oh lordt we have to do this again on the way back.” When we got there i guess we both were so excited we went straight into shooting. We got done in 45 minutes both tired and hungry and trying to bend our mind about the walk back. I can tell you them legs of mine started knocking even before we started the hill and by the time we made it to the hill they started giving up. We pushed through and i have never been so excited in my life to see my car. Overall it was a productive day, an eventful one and a great shoot.

Fashion Show. Made a rookie mistake but my basic knowledge saved me.

It should be a right to know in any trade, skill or profession the knowledge and understanding of what you are doing. Often times i run into people who claim they are photographers but don’t understand the basic knowledge of the art nor the tool they are using. Having this understanding can be proven vital in your development, in scenarios that needed a little bit more than of application and also the difference in your work. I am always learning or itching for more information and on this day that basic knowledge saved me.

I guess experience teaches wisdom and you learn from your mistakes.

I was a first timer at a fashion show and was confident because i have done my homework and fully prepaid. I felt that the information i had gathered was enough but things and situation change. On the day i showed up to the event but the good thing is i showed up early. My plan was to use 2 off camera flashes in a big white umbrella and mix it with the general lighting set up at the event. I made sure to have everything ready but when i decided to start setting up, space to have the lights not blocking anyone, in the way and at the right spot to light the models became an issue. I was determined to make it work because i know how important lighting is. I taped one of the flash on one of the stands that had the party lights on and had the other one basically next to me sliding and a little bit away from the crowd.

Everything was going great and a beautiful fashion show. I did my test before to get the perfect light setting. While shooting i realized that my main flash was at full power but the light just seemed not strong enough. I decided to continue because it seems to be working and i didn’t want to disturb the show. Soon after my other flash started misfiring and would randomly time out. That messed me up because i had no light at that particular spot to light the models and my main flash seemed weak and not strong enough to reach that far. 15 mins later my main flash started misfiring due to a battery concern. There was just technical issues one after the other. At this point i was disappointed because now my images won’t be as good. At this point i have no choice but to readjust. I decided to use the flood lights and the other photographers flash at my advantage. Grabbed my camera and changed a few settings in it to enable fast and easy accessibility to when the lighting was a little low to when it seemed a little too high. It was because of the basic knowledge i had that was instrumental in me finding a solution and making it work.

My First ever shoot about 2.5yrs ago when i first started.

Cristina. One of the best i’ve worked with.

In most cases you will find that clients are hesitant to give a new, young photographer a chance. I met Cristina when i was living in Hilton Head, SC. She is a great model and also big on fitness. I’ve seen her work a lot from other photographers in the area on social media. It was only my intention to reach out to her and see if she’d be interested in doing a shoot with me. I guess if you don’t ask you will never know. I messaged her via IG and she was such a sweetheart. Not one time she question my expertise but she knew i was a young and an upcoming photographer. We decided in doing the shoot at Shelter Cove Harbor. Truth is, looking back i know for sure that i wasn’t ready but i wanted to test, experience, trial and error and have an idea of what my next step will be in the learning process. I wanted everything to be right so on the day i arrived at the location about 2 hours before, excited much. At the time i had an AD200 as flash with a flimsy light stand and a big soft box. Little did i know that with wind that thing can be a hassle. It was my first time even trying flash also.

1 hour in i was getting more comfortable and the shoot seemed fun. I must admit i struggled with the flash but it comes with the territory of stepping out and being brave enough to try it. I kept my composure. What made it easy for me was her patience, knowing i lacked a lot, kept the shoot fun, was easy to deal with and she made me feel like it was OK to make mistakes. We shot for most of the evening leading into the dark. I had never been this exciting about editing pictures. Ooops….! Now the real problem came.

Editing can be simple but being an information junkie, watching youtube and following all these dope photographers on Instagram, you can’t help but to aspire. It takes not only understand the editing software you are using but also when and how to apply techniques effectively. I was all over the place because i wanted that perfect look. I over edited everything. lol. To me it looked OK but to others who are in the industry knew it wasn’t. I had good people around who would chime in with their 2 cents sometimes and i had the support from people like Cristina who would despite how the pictures look they would still post. Trust me i am way off and still learning but if i knew then what i know now i would have done a whole lot differently. Thanks Cristinaaaaa!

The snake and the aggressive caretaker. All of this just for a photoshoot

Model: Aubrey. “Always check your surroundings”

It was a last minute shoot. We ventured out to a park in Savannah, Ga that had a lot of history to it. Since it was last minute we had to stop by the local Walmart to see if we could get few more items for the shoot. We went back to the park geared and ready but the office was closed and they were only asking for nothing but a donation. We saw other people gained access to the park so we followed suit. While we were walking through the canopy we saw the sign that says", “ donations before access” and a jar to put the money in. It seemed shady to us so we decided when we get back we’ll walk in the office and see about paying there. We walked around jumping from boardwalk to boardwalk and trying to evade mud. This one spot had a pile of wood and looked like the perfect prop for a shot. I jumped on top and did an illustration of the pose i wanted and asked Aubrey to try it right after. As soon as she walked around and was about to get on top of the wood i immediately heard a shuffling sound. When i looked, it was a damn copperhead right there in the pile of wood next to Aubrey. If she had stepped she would stepped right on top of the snake. I immediately sounded an alarm to get away quickly. I don’t know if it was impulse and quick response but she moved just in time before the snake could make an attack. My heart came to my mouth. Listen! I am from Jamaica. I go to the woods all the time with no fear because there are no harmful snakes. The only time i ever saw a snake in Jamaica was when i went to the zoo. This was new to me. i ended the shoot because it was stuck in the back of my head that there are more laying around.

While we were making our way to the front to leave, we stopped a second to do a landscape shot. Out of nowhere this woman came screaming at us and claimed other people came by and left without leaving a donation and we are not leaving until we give a donation. We told her we had all intentions of doing that but the office wasn’t open and we didn’t want to leave money per the sign for anyone to just walk up and take. This lady was livid and was saying all manner of rude and uncalled for things. My fellow photographer friend started telling her she’s being very rude and disrespectful. She went and got her son who looked stone junk. He came and tried to talk her mother and said she’s being too aggressive and need to calm down. This only made it worst. She went off again and barged at us. My friend asked her to leave him alone then the son got involved and threatened us. It wasn’t worth it so we left.

It is not easy sometimes trying to shoot in certain areas. You feel as if people won’t make it an issue even when it’s not a bother to them, you’re not breaking any law, or causing any inconvenience , but somehow people will always make it an issue.

The Old Perv

Model: Cedar. Taken in a back alley

Cedar is such beauty, fun and grace to work with. She stays true to her classical style. You know as a photographer sometimes there is this one model where a photo session always fall right into place. There is this work chemistry where no matter what, where or how i shoot Cedar it is always a struggle to choose that one image. No wonder she’s my muse. On this day we struggled to find an alley way in Downtown Atlanta. We didn’t want the attention for sure so we left and drove down to Little 5 Points. We needed somewhere that would make her (Cedar) comfortable and free to express herself without the awkwardness of the public. That to me is very important. While we drove around looking for that ideal spot i managed to get left behind. So, i drove until i pulled over to lot where a known supermarket was. I walked around and stumbled upon this back way behind the supermarket. It felt safe, secluded and a bit fit the background we were looking for. The struggle now is to make sure Cedar could find me because my phone battery was holding on to life.

Upon finding me we took a walk together to look and see if she will be ok with it. She trusted the process. We began shooting and at this time a big 18 wheeler, delivery truck showed up. It was just one guy who seemed unbothered so we continued. I decided to move her a little further away from being that close to the truck and a little hidden. Cars started passing. Everyone would stop to say hi and give compliments, wave, cheer us on or just to be nosey. 15mins later the delivery truck driver went inside the building then out of nowhere this guy about 60 yrs old came out peeking. We burst out laughing because the look on his face was so epic we wondered if he would be ok after. If he didn’t have to work he would have been stuck right there watching. We saw him peeking trying to be unnoticed a few times after. Por Grandpa!

The TV I go everywhere with.

Model: Morgan. Taken for black history month

I was browsing through Instagram when I saw a friend of mine posted this old tv. You know the ones with the turn knob, the antenna and shows in black and white? Yes…. Those one. I messaged her if I could borrow the TV for a shoot. (Hi….Shaniceeeee lol… Thank you……) She said yes. I went and got the TV because I had a lot of concepts in mind especially one in particular. I had this TV in my car riding around for about 2 months. Every time I was suppose to shoot something always come up. Either the model fell through, it was too cold, rainy or just bad timing. I started questioning myself thinking this tv idea will not work. My conscience kicked in because i’ve had this TV I borrowed for quite a while and can’t return it. But, I was so determined to shoot with it. I finally reached out to my Afro Centric, melanin popping friend, Morgan. It was last minute. She sent me what she had and I was like, “we’ll make it work.” We set a time for 10am on a Saturday. The Saturday morning 10am was non existence. I overslept. I woke up feeling bad especially seeing that Morgan had messaged me. For a moment I thought she would cancel. Nope, she did not. She still came through. What I had in mind couldn’t be done in my studio but because of all the delays with shooting with the TV I had no choice. I had no clue what i was going to do but we went for it. Then suddenly in the middle of the shoot this idea just came to mind. It was even better because it was February and Black History Month. There was no better way to incorporate the TV concept given the limitations. Thank You Shanice. Thank You Morgan.