Chris Mann’s Island Blog

Since this blog is new, I thought I’d get things rolling with a look at some of my favourite images from last year. Some of these have already appeared on the Tropical Imaging blog, but here I can go into a little bit more detail about each image, and throw in a few technical details (for those that are interested).

As there are quite a few photos in this post, you’ll need to click the link below to see the images.

So here are the shots - they’re not in any special order.

This was one of those shots that just happen before your eyes. A wedding at a villa near Thompson Cove; I was second-shooting with Ileana Ravasio. She had the bride and groom standing on the rocks, and there was a strong breeze. I moved around to the side to see if I could get an alternate angle. The shot was taken about two minutes before sunset so the light was fading quickly, but had that soft character that you often get when the sun has just dipped out of sight but there is still a glow in the sky. The dress blew in the wind, the bride lifted her arm, and the moment happened.

This one’s from a sunset portrait session. Footprints in the sand is not a hugely original idea of course, but I like the symmetry of it. I set the aperture to F9 to get the footprints fairly sharp.

We had a series of very clear evenings with perfect sunsets in February last year - this shot was taken just two days before the bride and groom shot above. This is on Grace Bay (on the north side of Providenciales), taken from the beach by The Palms Resort looking towards Point Grace, which is silhouetted on the left. One of Sail Provo’s catamarans conveniently passed by to balance the composition.

This couple were just having fun! The image comes from a wedding on Parrot Cay, covered by myself and David Gallardo. We did some posed shots, but these two were just such party people it was nice to let them be themselves and just take pictures. Some post-processing in Photoshop was done to boost the contrast and get the high-key effect.

One of our projects in 2006 (as in 2005) was to supply images for the Turks & Caicos Hotel & Tourism Association’s guidebook, a glossy hardback book which can be found in every hotel room. This shot was taken on Middle Caicos - it didn’t end up in the book but I just like the strong colours and textures.