Kristopher Streek
Answering the question “Who am I as a creator?” is usually a tough one for me. I have been into photography for just under two years now, and almost every day is still a new learning experience for me. Whether it’s about photography or who I am creative, I always aspire to get out, learn more, and challenge myself. One thing I do know over the time I have spent is that I love capturing life’s moments. The moments or things we usually see and take for granted that makes you feel alive, so I don’t really limit myself to a specific genre. My style is rooted in capturing photos in a way that portrays a story or “moment” in time that speaks to me emotionally.
I’m also a firm believer that the most important aspect of photography is the choices you make. The decisions you make heavily influences how your photos are captured. “Should I wake up early and shoot sunrise?”, “Can I position myself differently in this situation?” or “Is this worth a shutter actuation?” are all questions I ask my self extremely frequently while planning or actively shooting. Even during photo selection, I have to ask myself, “Which photos speak to me on a deeper level?”. The choices made are the defining factors in what makes a photographer truly stand out.
Illuminate
I was tasked with documenting an annual event in my home country of Barbados, called “Illuminate” that sets the stage for local and regional artist performances for the public to enjoy. I typically prefer to shoot without flash, even in these environments, so I usually hunt for the best positions for a good deal of artificial light that compliments the angles that I’m going for. While the event rolled through the night and the crowd was feeding energy to the artists and vice versa, I managed to capture this shot of @deejaypuffy during the introduction to his set with Scratch Master. Before he took the stage, I had already made up in my mind which angle I was going for because I knew the pyrotechnics would come into play to fit his energetic personality. Working within the choices I made, allowed me to produce this massively energetic image.
Impromptu Shoot
This was more so a gathering of friends than an actual shoot. Some of my photography friends decided to have a little meet with a model. We had a general idea of what we wanted and where we might want to go, but we strayed far away from the original plan anyways and just did what we wanted for some casual shots. This shot took a little thought, as the location we went to didn’t have much going for it and the weather was not too nice. I decided to create some interesting effects with what we had and reflections of the environment through a prism we had on hand at the time.
Model : @naomisavanna
Kaieteur
Seeing and capturing this waterfall has probably been my most memorable experience to date. While I was in Guyana spending time with my family that lives there, they had recommended taking a tour of the rain-forest interior to experience the “real” Guyana. So I did my digging and found out about chartered flights and tours through the interior, and got lucky because I managed to book the last spot on a tour! The tour was scheduled to visit two amazing waterfalls in Guyana, namely Kaieteur, and Orinduik Falls. After an hour of flight I laid eyes on the view you see above. I honestly was so awed by it’s size, beauty, and power, that I couldn’t process an emotion towards it. It was as if I couldn’t believe it was real. I managed to get myself together and get the shot, just before we landed at a nearby airstrip and trekked the forest for closer angles.
Maroon
In 2017, I spent around a week in Jamaica on a cultural tour for my university. I and a group of other students spent the few days participating in volunteer projects, sightseeing, and interacting with locals. On our last day, we paid a visit to a maroon settlement in a northern section of the island. They welcomed us, and offered us food, and showed us around the area. Eventually, it turned into a hike, and we spent around fifteen minutes walking through a trail in the hills before we stumbled onto a waterfall. The maroon boys who led us there were the first to dive in and began to enjoy themselves. While my colleagues began to join them, I decided to snap a few shots of the area and one of the Maroons in the waterfall seen above.
Bourda Market
This is another one of my favorites from Guyana. I believe that when visiting any country, you haven’t really taken in everything you can until you mix and mingle in between the locals of the area. Visiting the market and trying my hand at street photography in another country helped me to notice a few more things about the culture of Guyana. I snapped this photo while walking through the butchery section, as I felt something towards the activities of “regular” people carrying on with their daily lives in the market.
