2018: A Retrospective The end of January seems like a good time to take a look back at the year that was 2018. I skipped writing one of these in 2017 (not on purpose, I assure you) but I could let it pass me by this time around. Last year was a pretty big one for me professionally and personally. Let’s get to it! 

My ‘Top Nine’ of 2018 on Instagram.

In January I started the year off with a bang when I had the privilege of having my work published on the cover of WestJet Magazine, with a full double-page spread on the inside. It was my first time being published for a paid gig, and I can’t begin to explain how wonderful it felt. You can read the details of that endeavour in this blog post here. 

In February I released some great fashion work with designer, model and friend Anna-Lisa Guthrie, who wanted to showcase some great tops and earrings. Her makeup was done by one of my favourite makeup artists, the ever talented Dominique Mitchell. While these were some simple images, I really liked the looks, and it gave me an opportunity to work on my lighting and retouching. 

Shortly after that, I was published for the second time that year with a March fashion editorial called Light and Shadow in Sheeba Magazine! Another collaboration with Anna-Lisa and Dominique, with the help of my friend and colleague Jik-Reuben Pringle we created some absolutely stunning images, some of which were inspired by fashion and commercial photographer Lindsay Adler. Not only were these images published, but I also had one on display in the 2018 Faculty Exhibition at the Edna Maney College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA). This was my first time being in an exhibition so it was quite exciting for me, and thankfully the print was well received. You can find the blog post about it here!

April was also quite the month. It marked the release of a fruitful collaboration with another of my favourite makeup artists, Tamara Melville, FHL Designs and Vintage Chic Jewellery; a fashion and beauty editorial titled Tropical Memories. I am absolutely proud of the work we produced, and I look forward to creating more like it. 

Following that, in May Tamara and I teamed up with White Lotus Bridal to create the Bridal Beauty editorial which featured wonderful dresses and clean subtle bridal makeup. 

Another highlight of 2018 for me was capturing portraits of the team of WE-Change, a women’s empowerment organization. I had a great time working with them, through and through, and we created some really great portraits! 

Other client work was done, but not everything can be posted, and some still haven’t been released by the client (in the commercial world, these things can take quite a bit of time) but it was a stellar year of photography for me. Now, on to some of the big changes that happened in my life. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I worked in the Photography Department of the EMCVPA as a technician, as well as a Part-Time Lecturer for the School of Continuing Education at the college. My time with the EMCVPA family ended in June 2018. It was a great run, and an absolute privilege to have worked with an entire college filled with not just seasoned artists in a myriad of fields, but bright young minds who are just as likely as their forebears to inspire me. I will miss the institution and the art, but my departure wasn’t without reason. In July 2018 I moved… to Japan! 

It was a monumental decision, but I had my personal and professional reasons. In the six months I’ve been here I’ve returned to my roots in street photography, though it hasn’t yet become a concerted effort. I’m still finding my ground and biding my time. 2019, though it might not be as filled with clients, will be no less spectacular, and I look forward to creating even more content to share. In the meantime, you can stay updated with my images from Japan here!

For this year’s World Photography Day on the 20th of August, I shared this photo of my good friend Toni McLennon. It’s one of the few unreleased photos from my shoot with her last year because it was originally a test image. Her face isn’t retouched (shout-out to the amazing makeup by Dominique Mitchell aka @ladybugmua!) as I’ve yet to figure out how to do that on a phone, but that makes me love the image even more. I came across it while perusing my Lightroom CC catalogue. Did the black and and white conversion there, and a bit of tweaking in Snapseed. Also have to shout out @jikreuben and @kidbazzle for being my technicians that day.

I’d also like to take the time to ‘announce’ that I’m no longer in Jamaica (and won’t be for quite a while) so the content of my page might shift a bit. I’m currently living and working in Japan, and I’ll be doing a bit of exploration of my craft while I’m here. You may see more landscapes, more architectural work. Whatever comes next, I’d like to thank you all for supporting me and my work. Thanks to all the clients I’ve gained, the friends I’ve met. And hey, if you’re in Southern Japan and you’d like to work with me, feel free to give me a shout!

Toni McLennon

It’s always great when a plan comes together! A few weeks ago I did a lovely shoot with makeup-artist Tamara Melville (who is becoming a frequent collaborator of mine) to capture some clean, subtle bridal makeup looks. 

Working once more with model Sue-Dionne Lewis (represented by State Management), Bianca Cisneros-Wynter and Olivia Grace. Everyone was on point throughout the shoot, and it was a good time all around. We also had some beautiful dresses provided by White Lotus Bridal. Tamara did a great job with each model, and they all had marvellous energy on the set. We ended up with two looks for Bianca and Olivia, and one look for Sue-Dionne, all clean, simple and graceful. 

I don’t have much to say this time around, but I’ll let the images speak for themselves!

Guess who’s back with some new images! Make-up artist Tamara Melville reached out to me recently to do a collaboration to shoot some beautiful spring looks, and knowing the quality of her work I was happy to be on board. We had worked together before with great results, so I knew I was in for a treat. 

Sue-Dionne Lewis, repped by State Management, was the model selected for the shoot, and she did exceptionally well. Working with Sue is a breeze because she instinctively knows the poses and faces to pull based on just a mood board or minimal direction. With that type of synergy, there was no way we wouldn’t get great images. The accessories provided by Vintage Chic Jewellery were wonderful and fit the mood of the shoot perfectly, ranging from rustic to earthy to vibrant. It’s evident that each piece was made lovingly and with great care. The dresses, provided by FHL Designs, embodied the spirit of spring and tropical feelings incredibly well with their flowing designs. 

 For assistance on this shoot, I contacted my colleague Kid Bazzle to assist me as a lighting and digital technician. He also created that lovely green backdrop! With myself, Tamara and Bazzle on set, we had a lovely time shooting each look, with Tamara styling each look effortlessly. As always, I shot tethered so that the images could be seen on a monitor almost instantly instead of on the back of the camera. I find this workflow to be very productive because what the human eye might not see, the camera picks it up! We had a great day, and some amazing images to show for it!

In my last blog post, I mentioned I had some more work in store for you. I’m happy to share that my latest editorial has been published in Sheeba Magazine!
 

The series, titled Light and Shadow, was inspired by the way shadows add a sense of dimension to an image. I don’t shy away from using shadows in my work, but in this instance, I wanted to make it as stark as possible, which led me to shoot a number of the images in black and white. Another source of inspiration was the work of fashion and commercial photographer Lindsay Adler. After examining her black and white work, and watching one of her Creative Live classes in which she used hard light, I felt compelled to try it for myself. I compiled a mood board and then reached out to model and designer Anna-Lisa Guthrie, who I felt had the perfect look to pull off a shoot like this. I also contacted the super talented Dominique Mitchell to do make-up, and fellow photographer Jik-Reuben Pringle to be my lighting and digital technician. 

 The outfits provided by Anna-Lisa were an almost exact match with the idea I had in mind, and the shoot went swimmingly (as can be expected when working with a great team). I have to give a big thank you to Sheeba Magazine for publishing our work! In addition to this, one image in particular is also currently on display at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in the 2018 Faculty Exhibition. The work is on display in the CAG[e] Gallery at the college, and runs from the 6th of March to the 20th of March, so feel free to go have a have a look!

You can view the tear sheets from the magazine and a few extra images below; a full gallery can be found here. Enjoy!

I recently got together with my friend and fellow creative Anna-Lisa Guthrie to create some work for her fashion line Aura by Annaixe. Anna is not just a model and photographer, but also a designer, and I was thrilled to work with her to create new content for her portfolio; the tops and the earrings were made by her. Her designs are meticulously detailed and gorgeous, and she modeled them well. While it was a subsection of a larger project that we were working on (which will be detailed in another blog post), I still approached it as I would any project.

I was incredibly happy to have makeup artist Dominique Mitchell working with me on this project, as her skill and style is impeccable and immediately identifiable. Also present was my colleague Jik-Reuben Pringle, who filled the role of lighting and digital technician. As I always try to do for studio shoots, I shot tethered with my base edits dialed in, so that we could have an idea of what the final product would be. All in all, we had an amazing time on the shoot, and I can’t wait to show the rest. In the meantime, enjoy these!

Who’s ready for a few new photos! As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I work in the Photography Department at the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performing Arts. In October we went on our departmental field trip with the students to Castleton Botanical Gardens, the Charlestown Maroon Village and Buff Bay.

I’ve always said I’m not a landscape photographer, and while that remains true, two things remain the same; I always pay attention to interesting compositions, and I watch the movements of light and shadow in the environment. While most of my day was spent tending to the students, I did manage to get a few shots that I’m thoroughly in love with, and I’m happy to share them with you! 

First post for the new year! I’m proud to say I shot the cover for the January 2018 issue of WestJet Magazine! 

The fine folks from WestJet contacted me late last year about shooting some photos of Kingston for an article in their January issue called Where To Go in 2018. They discovered me because of an article I wrote that got featured on Format Magazine! I was happy to accept the job and jumped right into making arrangements to get the job done. I called up my colleague Jik-Reuben Pringle in order to get his assistance travelling around Kingston (it’s always good to have a friend with a car!) and making contact with key people around the city. We also had Kid Bazzle along for the ride for a few days to provide help with creative direction.

 Over the course of a week, I shot a series of photos at Culture Yard in Trench Town, followed by the Bob Marley Museum, Coronation Market, Life Yard and Fleet Street. After getting a number of great shots, I was asked to shoot images that would be used for the cover of the magazine and a double-page spread on the inside to present the story. Jumping at the chance, I told Jik that I needed him for one more aspect; to model! He’s someone with a great sense of style, so I knew he could find an interesting outfit. With some creative direction offered by the WestJet Magazine team, we ended up with some amazing shots for cover and inner spread. All in all, I had an amazing time travelling around Kingston to get these photos! You can view the full issue of the magazine here.

Sometimes, posts are short and to the point. This is one of them. 

 A few weeks ago I was contacted by Jamaican artist Phillip Thomas to shoot some portraits. I’ve never known him personally, but one thing was always evident; the man has style! With him being a well-known painter and mixed media artist I was thrilled to work with him, but just like this post, our time was incredibly short. He had two fairly simple looks with wonderfully made jackets. Using a 47” softbox as my key light and a bare flash as the rim, I was able to get a very interesting look and feel from the images, using the light to sculpt not just his features, but the clothes as well. At the end of a 15-minute shoot, we had 4 great photos!

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of working with my friend and colleague, Anna-Lisa Guthrie on a small, intimate shoot. A professional photographer and model, Anna had the chops to pose and give the looks I had envisioned with maximum efficiency, and she definitely delivered. The images were tucked away in storage a while back, but I recently came across them while sorting my files, and I thought there was no better time than the present to give them a 2017 edit! 

I had posted a few of them on social media at the time, but never had the opportunity to show the all. In a shoot that had me continuing with my recent trend of working in small, intimate spaces I used not only Anna, but also her environment as a character in this series of images, which I felt complemented her look and style. Using a mix of a single speedlight, a shoot-through umbrella, a reflector and natural light, I was able to control the ambience to nice, clean looks, but made sure the space still felt lived in/occupied. The end result was something that can be described as boudoir inspired. You can find the full gallery of images here.