Lifestyle Portraits of Artist in The Bahamas

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I'm a part of an industry where there are some pretty amazing creatives, many whom I've had the pleasure to photograph. I've known illustrator and painter,  Philece for quite some time and I've always admired her creativity. Her illustrations match her personality, soft, vibrant with an energy you have to see in person to believe. 

I called her and said "Philece, let's shoot!" and with little to no reluctance, she adamantly accepted my offer. I told her I wanted to shoot her in her environment, the studio, her front yard with simple styling but capturing her personality and energy.

My approach as the photographer was to capture her in bright surroundings with clean bursts of light and pops of color that would portray Philece the way I saw her. I knew many of the shots would be "in the moment" and with her quirky, awkwardly funny and an aesthetic that bleeds creativity, I knew I'd capture her candidly and create images that truly represent the artist. 

Photography + Styling: Scharad LightbourneMUA: Makeup by LilyGrips: Keron Wood // Video: Tony Williams

Photography + Styling: Scharad Lightbourne

MUA: Makeup by Lily

Grips: Keron Wood // Video: Tony Williams

Braneka Bassett photographs with Bahamian photographer Scharad Lightbourne

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Braneka Bassett, a former Miss Bahamas was flying into Nassau and contacted me asking if I wanted to shoot. Braneka, being local to LA, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to work together. We had tried so many times to collaborate but due to equally busy schedules, we never got the chance until now.

"Sure!" was my response of course and I spoke to Braneka about what type of look we could shoot because we only had a few hours with her! She even had a location secured before flying in and she told me that I'd love it; a house on Lake Cunningham.

With literally an hour before sunset, an incredible suit from Beach Bunny Swimwear, and a few simple Aldo accessories, the team and I captured Braneka doing what she does best and effortlessly at that! We got great frames and everyone was excited to shoot with this Bahamian beauty. 

Photography + Styling: Scharad LightbourneMUA: Antonya Jenoure // Hair: Kelly Pinder Grips: Malik Smith + Kenzi Thompson + Tariq Cartwright

Photography + Styling: Scharad Lightbourne

MUA: Antonya Jenoure // Hair: Kelly Pinder 

Grips: Malik Smith + Kenzi Thompson + Tariq Cartwright

WATCH THE FILM BELOW

Filmed by Tony Williams, Directed by Scharad Lightbourne

Natural Habitat

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As an artist I have a million thoughts about my work and what Im doing and so I decided to portray one of these thoughts through photography.

We often find ourselves reaching a plateau or comfort zone and its unusual to want to stray away from that but I'm learning that you have to step out of that zone in order to grow. This is a scary thing to some because we become comfortable with our current environments, so to venture into some other unusual area is looked at as risky.

Faith and vision keep you focus and protected, so using a female model and a canine model, I drew from them to interpret these feelings. Being on unfamiliar ground is somewhat daunting but your goals and dreams are attainable by focus on whats ahead. I thought it would be interested to portray this and model Joi Broughton did an outstanding job by helping me bring this vision to life with her companion Sniper the Doberman Pincher.

Photography & Styling: Scharad Lightbourne

Art Direction: Kenton Ferguson

MUA: Sarsha Lepeche

Hair: Skyline Designs

Model: Joi Broughton

Grip: Tariq Cartwright

 

Video Direction: Scharad Lightbourne

Video Cinematography: Tony E Williams 

Video Producer: Tony E Williams 

Bahari Fall 2016 Campaign

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The Bahari Creative team always  gives me "some" wiggle room when it comes to the brands new campaigns. So when it came time to shoot the Fall 16' series for Bahari, they made it perfectly clear that they wanted to direct this shoot. With some reluctance, I figured it would be good to have the geniuses behind the brand direct their own photoshoot. 

The looks were incredible, the models were fluid and gave great movement to the lens of both the video and still camera. In Bahari true fashion, we had the set constructed for the shoot because we wanted a different approach. This artistic, nature inspired "cube" was the perfect backdrop for the bold prints of the new line.

A great joy for me was challenging myself to photograph the entire campaign with natural light. No strobes we used to capture the images so I was very proud with the results. Please enjoy the images and short fashion film below.

Photographer: Scharad Lightbourne
MUA: Antonya Jenoure
Stylist: Joel Stubbs
Hair: Omeece Culmer
Photo Assistant: Aaron Davis

Fashion Film

Directed by: Morgan Fernander & Scharad Lightbourne

Filmed by Ashley Whitney & Malik Smith

Produced by Ashley Whitney

"Market Value" Editorial photographed in Kensington Market, Toronto

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While I was in Toronto earlier this year, I planned to shoot something, anything, anywhere in the city. The city is a breeding ground for creative ideas especially photography and on my 2nd trip there in 3 years, there was no question that I'd want to shoot in the Kensington Market area.

I called stylist Aziza Brown who immediately agreed to work with me again and when I told her where I wanted to shoot, she instantly came up with the style direction for the clothing. We just needed to put a team together and with the help of MORGAN Model Management, we sourced unique and diverse talents for the shoot. The final piece of the puzzle was MUA (makeup artist) Senita Rodrigues whose work I admired for awhile and I contacted her to work together and she was friendly and very open to my ideas.

On shoot day, we started about 8am that morning, using a parking garage as HQ, yes a parking garage! It was central to everything and we had covering so we made it work. The models were troopers changing in and out of looks and I actually scouted the market from high above.

Kensington was an incredible area, bustling with people, vendors, sights and sounds who all seemingly ignored the fact that I was photographing two unique and diverse models in the street, against doorways, in between stalls and up against walls. I was everywhere and loving the energy the market seemed to throw right back at me.

Check out the gallery below.

Photographer: Scharad Lightbourne
MUA: Senita Rodrigues
Stylist: Aziza Brown
Clothing Designer: Print Vintage
Shoe Retailer: Heel Boy
Models: Shakhira & Nadia Blackwood

Bahamian pop artist Keeya shoots new visuals for "Hella Good" single

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Keeya and her team met with me a few weeks back communicating that they needed "sexy, fun and hype" images for the artist's new single titled "Hella' Good." We were sitting in Starbucks and upon hearing the song, I was amped and ready to go! I loved the track, especially the lyrics and immediately, I began to visualize the images in my head.

Her energy and artsy demeanor meant that I'd have a creative range with the set and images, plus knowing I'd work with my good friend and stylist, Lavonne Alexis of ShoptheCC meant that the wardrobe would be pin-point creative!

Popop Studios, Nassau, The Bahamas, was the perfect canvas to which we'd shoot Keeya and using props like inflatable flamingos (Luxury Floats Bahamas), tea party sets (The Tea Room) and a simple mattress meant that we'd have a storyboard fitting to the song lyrics. Keeya's edgy look only added to each frame and with a monster team, we banged out look after look like it were frames from an action movie.

WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO!

LISTEN TO "HELLA GOOD" by KEEYA