nikonphoto

Theodore Elyett, Fashion Designer Lifestyle Shoot

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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

"Twinning" with models Shyloh + Abeba

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While I visited NYC this past fall for a photography workshop, I decided to shoot during my stay so I put out a few castings on social media to see if I'd get some attention. Bahamian born model Shyloh reached out to me and said that she'd love to shoot while I was there. I completely forgot that she lived in New York! She also mentioned that her roommate Abeba, modeled as well and when I saw photos, I immediately got excited.

I decided to shoot them both using a "twin-like" theme where the looks would be matching, mimicked styles and looking at them both together, I thought it would be great because they looked very similar but oddly they had no relation to each other.

The day of was great, I met up with fellow colleagues Herman (DC) and Tamara (NJ) and found a great studio down on 36th street which had an amazing space and I was able to book them at a reasonable price. These beautiful women put everything together, from head to toe and being seasoned models, they knew where to shop and how to prepare for a studio session. They even did their own hair and makeup! 

Shyloh and Abeba were nothing short of incredible to shoot, with little to no direction, they both ROCKED the set. If they weren't spinning, they were jumping, dancing and embracing one another stopping in between to hold fierce looks long enough for me to find my sweet spots and frames. A photographer's dream! 

Eve

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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.”