Imagine Caribbean: Alberta Henry of Alberta Henry Photography

Photo Credit : Alberta Henry Photography

Today I am featuring Alberta Henry of Alberta HenryPhotography in St Lucia. If a picture is worth a thousand words, Alberta’s photos tell beautiful stories of love and joy and family and togetherness. Alberta who runs the business with her husband, is making quite a name for herself with her uber creative, themed photo shoots. Her baby photography completely slayed me with cuteness. But, get this...Alberta is not only an extraordinary photographer, she is also a trained Chemist who lectures at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College .  I asked Alberta to share a little about her business and her Art: 

What prompted you to start Alberta Henry Photography?

I love to do portraits and I used to take so many photos of my friends they called me "Paparazzi". My friends liked the photographs I took and they encouraged me to do it professionally. My husband also encouraged me to buy a professional camera, I did that and the photography took off from there.

What did you do before starting Alberta Henry Photography?

When I started I was studying at UWI, because of all the free time I had, I tried it out.

What do you love more Chemistry or Photography?

I love them both. I really love to teach, I love to teach Chemistry and I love my students, I give my students 100% during the week and on weekends and vacations I give my photography 100%. They are both rewarding. The photography keeps me sane but I still love teaching.

Were you afraid when you launched this business?

Not really. I am only afraid when I get too much business. I fear that it’s going to cut into my work schedule and I won’t be able to juggle them both. I would love to do photography full time, but I’m not sure that I would be able to do it full time in St. Lucia. I don’t know if I would  have steady clients to sustain the business. With my current job I have the benefit of a fixed salary.

How has your University education prepared you for managing this business?

I have a BSc. in Chemistry and Mathemathics and a MSc. in Theoretical Chemistry. I don’t think doing Chemistry has prepared me for managing this business. I use my Chemistry degrees in my day job but not in the photography per se because I do digital photography. To do photography you have to be creative and think outside the box, Chemistry is more analytical and more rigid. With Chemistry there is less room for mistakes, a mistake can be fatal. Photography on the other hand is art, there are no mistakes with art.

Do you like being photographed? 

I used to. I am always smiling and posing, but I am a bit awkward, I don’t really have many good photos of myself because I’m always behind the camera. I prefer to be behind the camera and I really love to edit the photographs, that’s my thing.  

How did you break into the market, did you have a defined strategy or did you just wing it and learn as you went along.

I only use Facebook to market the business. I did my first shoot, I posted photos on Facebook and the business took off from there. I would have to say word of mouth and Facebook. I did a baby shoot for the editor of SHE Magazine, but I haven’t done any television ads or other promotions because I worry that I may get too much business to juggle both the photography and my day job.

What type of session do you look forward to the most (maternity, newborn, child, weddings, engagement shoots) and why?

My husband loves the wedding and engagement shoots, but I prefer the baby shoots. A shoot generally takes about 5-6 hours. Baby shoots are not as easy as they look. People look at the photos and they think it is easy, they say wow the baby is sleeping so soundly, it’s not until they’re in the session sweating they realize how hard it is. I have to try a lot of things to get the best shots; if one thing doesn’t work I move onto the next thing, it takes a lot of time.

I love to get those newborn photographs of the babies in their natural state. I don’t really try to pose them because they always slip off the poses. Believe it or not at that stage they have their own personalities, they’re unique, some babies smile and co-operate other babies struggle and fight. Ten days after birth they change, their skin is different even their hair is different. I love to capture those newborn moments forever so the parents can look back and see their child at that stage. If it’s so special to me, imagine how special it is to the parents.

How do you conceptualise the shoots?

I collect props to use in my photo shoots, when I see things I like I collect them, right now I have my eye on 3 stools and a bench. I try to get boxes, baskets, antique chairs, baby beds, anything a child can sit on. I also make headbands for the babies. I used to make roses from scratch, but the easiest way is to get headbands with different designs and stitch pre-made flowers to the headbands. The day before a shoot I chose about 5 of the props, and co-ordinate the headbands and other accessories to go along with the shot, so even with the same props, no two shoots are alike.

What do you think makes a memorable photo shoot?

One time we had a shoot and we went to a location and it was an awful location because there were a bunch of abandoned buildings. We worked with it and the photos looked wonderful, it turned out being one of my favorite photo shoots. I guess because the location was so horrible we had to put everything into the photos and it worked. For a memorable photo shoot, it’s all about planning. If you just show up for an engagement shoot, and you’re not dressed well, or not prepared it just doesn’t work.  Sometimes persons will show me what they’re wearing or what they’re thinking of wearing and I give feedback or offer ideas about how it would go with the particular type of shoot. It’s not about just showing up and trying to make things work, planning is very important.

 What do you want viewers to take away from your work?

I want them to see love and relationships; the love between a couple, the love for the child. I want people to see family, love…humanness. That’s what I aim for in my shoots whether it’s an engagement shoot, a wedding or a baby shoot, I want people to see love and family. I don’t want to shoot models because when you do that there’s no sense of community, you don’t get that sense of family and love and togetherness. With my shoots, I want people to look at the photos and embrace the persons and share in their joy, even if they don’t know them.

What do you think sets Alberta Henry Photography apart and makes your business so successful?

I find that people tend to be more comfortable with women. Most photographers are men, especially for weddings but men don’t think like women, a woman would see a moment and go awwww and capture that moment in a photograph but a man might gloss over that. As a woman I capture those awww moments. I think my personality sets my business apart as well, when I do the shoot my clients automatically become my friends. I remember the children’s names. Even if I did a baby, I remember the child years later when I see them. I love to see how they have grown and changed.  I also love to capture people’s personalities. I like to get persons comfortable and laughing so I get their true personality…when the person sees the photo they must say "Yes this is me".

What do you love most about being a photographer?

I love the smiles from the clients.  A lot of people come with high hopes for their photo shoots and it’s scary, that’s a lot of pressure. One lady brought her 6 month old baby and she said that the child was friendly and smiles all the time and the baby did not smile for the photos. When we finally got the baby to smile she was so excited she was jumping and smiling. I love that. Even on Facebook when the children’s photos get likes, the parents come back to me and they know exactly how many likes the child gets. I love when people feel good about the photos and themselves.

What has been your biggest challenge?

I am self-taught, so sometimes I’m doubtful about my ability. The more persons see and like my work, the greater the pressure to expand and do more, so sometimes I am a bit apprehensive.  When people meet me and ask are you the photographer, they have high hopes and I’m scared of that, it’s a lot of pressure. My biggest challenge is to have confidence in myself and my capabilities.

What is the 1 thing you wish you knew when you started taking photographs?

I once did an online workshop and the lady that was doing it advised us not to belittle our work, if you list a price let the client take it or leave it. If you give your work away persons will not respect the time and effort you put into it. Photography is art. Some people think that when they get a photograph they just get an image, that’s not true, there’s a lot of time and effort and planning that goes into a shoot. As the photographer you just have to say this is who I am, this what I can give and this is the price and walk away. There are persons who will understand what it takes to get there and who will pay to have it. Don’t undervalue yourself, don’t sell yourself short. I knew this when I started out, I just wasn’t applying it.

How would you like to see Alberta Henry Photography evolve?

I want a huge studio , with different aspects and elements, I would love to have a team of photographers to do the different types of shoots: weddings, newborns etc.

If you could have lunch with one entrepreneur or inspirational person who would it be and why?

I would love to meet Yaisa Tangwell, a few years ago I found her page on Facebook and she does such beautiful wedding photos and portraits. Before I discovered her I did not know there were any female wedding photographers in the Caribbean. She has won so many awards internationally and she’s from the Caribbean. She shoots with her husband but she is the primary photographer. She does high profile weddings, she knows her value, she doesn’t compromise.  She is everything I want to be but with baby shoots.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Go forward. The only way to survive in a business is to do what you love. I love photography. If you love what you do and you do it well your business will not suffer, clients would pick up on that and your business would grow. If you’re just doing it for the money it won’t work. When we started it we did not do it for the money, because we weren’t getting any.  We started this because we thought that everyone would want a special picture of themselves that they could have forever. 

You can check out more of Alberta’s work here:

Facebook