Blog - Bahamas Photographer — Scharad Lightbourne, Bahamas Premier Portrait Photographer

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Courtney Spears. Portraits of a Ballerina

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Courtney Spears is an accomplished dancer and ballerina with Bahamian roots with a diverse portfolio that makes her a very recognized figure in her field. There are Bahamians all over the world like Courtney who are doing some pretty amazing things, so when Courtney and I first met, we knew we would be doing some work together. I wanted to capture unconventional portraits of this incredible ballerina. We planned the entire shoot over a few days and I wanted to keep things simple as I always do but in this case, I wanted a bit more in terms of the creative direction. I enlisted the help of designer Ria Georgina to make a dramatic tulle skirt for my ballerina to wear and that was a creative process indeed from choosing the right colour to length and fullness of the skirt. 

It took me a minute to decide on where I would shoot Courtney and I mulled over this for days. I didn't want studio shots and the locations I'd scouted prior to just weren't giving me the character I needed. Until...I decided to go back to one of those very same locations, the Potters Cay Dock. I walked around some more and found a space that I couldn't believe I missed. So I took some photos and went back home to finish my shot list.

On the day of the shoot, I met Courtney at the studio of Sarsha Lepeche (MUA) where she applied a dramatic look to her face. My team met me at the location and we shot effortless looks of Courtney moving and contorting her body like it was painted on a canvas. The location of course completely opposed her movements and femininity and the team loved it. Please enjoy the images responsibly.

Photography + Styling: Scharad LightbourneMUA: Makeup by Sarsha LepecheGrips: Gary Martin, Martin Gray // Video: Ashley Whitney

Photography + Styling: Scharad Lightbourne

MUA: Makeup by Sarsha Lepeche

Grips: Gary Martin, Martin Gray // Video: Ashley Whitney

SEE COURTNEY IN MOTION

Vida Cayo Summer Campaign Photoshoot

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I'm going to apologize ahead of time for this post but its going to make you feel really guilty about your current workout regime. Vida Cayo recruited some amazingly fit models to stand in their first ever advertising campaign and hiring me, an amateur fitness expert to photograph it. Walking on set, I found myself to be intimidated by the abs, pecs and glutes that were being paraded around but I stood confident in my Nike tank that I would use them to my advantage. The location was incredible and I was pretty happy with it having seen it a few days prior. I'd already mapped out the areas which I wanted to shoot against and the weather was perfect too. We had green grass, trees and a beautiful panoramic view of the beach.

But not to be outdone, I had a guest model that Id pose with my live models that was equally as fit and toned as they were. Her iron frame and wheels of steel were equally as sexy as her topless frame and all eyes were laid on this custom Jeep Wrangler once she pulled into the yard.

The shoot was "bananas" and tons of fun and these fitness models has an even better time than I did. With my MUA and Stylist working feverishly to ensure the models looked their best. I loved the jeep as Im a huge fan of the custom Wranglers. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect shoot, day or collection of diverse models at which to point my camera to. Please enjoy these images responsibly.

Photography: Scharad Lightbourne // Styling: Shan OliverMUA: Makeup by Vonz FergusonGrips: Gary Martin, Martin gray, Kenzi Thompson + Derek Adams // Video: Michael Cortez

Photography: Scharad Lightbourne // Styling: Shan Oliver

MUA: Makeup by Vonz Ferguson

Grips: Gary Martin, Martin gray, Kenzi Thompson + Derek Adams // Video: Michael Cortez

WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO

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 

Portrait of a Filmmaker: Lavado Stubbs

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Getting the chance to photograph another artist is very important to me and so when filmmaker, Lavado Stubbs approached me about doing portraits of him, I was elated at the opportunity. I'd known Lavado from when I first began my career in photography 10 years ago. He was involved in another creative venture back then but we'd always kept in touch and I watched him grow into an amazing film maker and director with his brand "ConchBoy Films." 

Lavado wanted something simple for his portraits but at the same time he wanted there to be some style elements present. Using a mood board, I decided to incorporate some of his signature pieces in the photography like his fedora, tropical print shirt and vintage frame glasses. The only request from the artist was that he wanted a photo of himself enjoying a handmade cigar from Greycliff. 

He also mentioned that he was nervous as he was used to being behind the camera. So I told him to trust me and just let the creativity flow. I think that put him more at ease and as his excitement grew, so did mine. So excited that I had to stop him from buying all new clothing for the shoot, even down to a simple white tee!

We got great frames with Lavado as his personality came through on set, sometimes emotionless while other times joyful and full of laughter. Check out some of my favorite shots from shooting this filmmaker.

“I have known Scharad for several years and always admired and respected his craft as an amazing photographer. I was delighted when I finally got the opportunity to be photographed by him. It was great to see another artist’s process and get a feel of how it is to be a subject. Scharad truly made this entire experience comfortable for a filmmaker like me who lives behind the scenes.”
— Lavado Stubbs

Photography + Styling: Scharad Lightbourne

Grip: Aaron Davis, Malik Smith, Antonio Miller • Video: Ashley Whitney • BTS: Keisha Oliver

WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO