The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

FOUR BAHAMIAN photographers opened a new exhibit at Doongalik Studios and Art Gallery last night featuring their latest work in a collection called “BahamaScape”.

The collaborative show by photographs Rashad Penn, Jeff Major, Shane Pinder and Guilden Gilbert focused on the Bahamas and the many wonderful land and seascapes that can be found throughout the islands.

Each of the artists displayed eighteen images with a few of them being offered as limited editions.

“A number of pieces I have on display show sunrise lighting conditions of Solomon’s lighthouse on Eastern Road. Some images show the beauty of clear blue skies and crystal clear water,” said Guilden.
Overall, Guilden said the images depict who he is as a photographer. “I have been shooting for about thirty years and this is the first time I am offering my images in this format. I hope viewers enjoy the images,” he said.

Rashad said his images are often lightly coloured but he tends to focus more on motion and realism, forcing viewers to see things in a new way.

“Guilden’s images are vibrant and punchy they are bold and demand your attention, often it’s hard to look away, engaging would be the word. Shane’s images are surreal, more specifically his underwater images. They leave you in awe of their simplicity yet astonishing beauty. Jeff’s images are often more abstract but calming, he not only captures a great moment in time but one that is often calming to look at. Each image will play with your emotions in some small way, which is the point of creating such fine art,” said Rashad.

Shane told Tribune Entertainment what makes one photographer’s work unique from another photographer’s, is the influence of each photographer’s personality and experience on how he or she sees and interprets a scene. “Whether or not that “uniqueness” is translated into an image is for each viewer to decide,” he said.

“I think that we are all hoping that this exhibit will help to generate interest in landscapes or in our case mainly seascape and nature photography, to showcase images produced by local photographers,” said Shane.

Each of the artists are passionate about photography – they all participate in a very active Facebook group called Photographers of The Bahamas (POTB) that was created by Rashad. Three members of the group, Rashad, Jeff and Guilden, initially got together after a group photo-walk.

The photographers discovered that they had very similar photography interests so for safety reasons, they decided to get together to shoot on a regular basis following this first photo-walk, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Shane was invited by Guilden to become a member of POTB after he presented some of his work, and he eagerly accepted. The group has spent many hours shooting together and presenting their work to each other for critiques, input and advice.

Rashad said they are all unique and they all have had different life experiences, which is the reason why they see things differently.

“Often times we have shot the exact same location at the same time and still come back with four totally different images. We are individuals therefore our individuality will be reflected in our work, although we have taken virtually identical images at different times which made it challenging when we were deciding which images to display. You will see what I mean from one of Shane’s images entitled ‘Whale Tale’ and one of mine entitled ‘Barrier,” said Rashad.

As an added benefit to the exhibition, the photographers will be donating part proceeds of their sales to the Children’s Emergency Hostel and Great Commission Ministries International during this season of giving. Patrons who purchase art work will not only obtain beautiful photographs but will also be contributing towards these noteworthy charities.

“BahamaScape” will be on display until Tuesday, November 26. For more information contact the Gallery at 394-1886.