Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine January 2020 | Page 52

www.dracinc.com
“Photographing the SS Sapona, the
concrete-hulled cargo steamer that
ran aground near Bimini during a
hurricane in 1926 is my most treasured
Bahamian photo experience.”
- Donn
I grew up in The Bahamas. I was about thirteen or fourteen when a new teacher from Canada
came to teach at my school and he brought a lot of cameras for us to play with. Taking a
photo and going into a black room to process the film and then a darkroom to print the film
was so magical to me . . . I found something I was excited about and my mom encouraged
me in every way.
About his role models in this industry
That would be a Ghanian photographer named James Barnor of Ever Young Studio, which
was a makeshift street studio. I learned from him. He would use a pencil to retouch a photo
to make a person look young, hence the name of his studio, Ever Young. He also shot for
Look Magazine. His street fashion and style was copied by lots of photographers of today,
including me.
About his favourite types of photo shoots
Fashion! Anything fashion! I try to break all the rules when shooting fashion, or I should say
I think I break all the rules when I am photographing anything! Photographing advertising
photography is an adventure all within itself. Then, there is travel photography . . . Traveling
to another place, and waiting for the right time or hour to capture a photograph is so, so
awesome and exciting all at once. I think I have been to just about every Caribbean country
there is to go.