OWEN JORDAN is a professional photographer, but this wasn’t the desired destination when his journey first began.
It may sound far-fetched now, but his initial plan was to open a sports bar, with food, large flat-screen televisions, a festive atmosphere and all the works. But during an interview with the DAILY NATION, the father of one said that after seeing so many other bars doing almost the same thing, he decided to place that dream on the back-burner and recalculate the concept so that when he was ready to undertake that endeavour, it would reap a favourable response.
On a break from the bar business, something quite unknown drove Jordan to pick up a camera one evening as he was going out to an event. During the course of that night he encountered popular disc jockey and entertainer Verseewild, who became his first muse.
“Verseewild saw me a night and told me to give him a picture. At that time I had a small hand-held camera and it was just a few for him to post, but the result was that everyone at the time wanted one with him,” the Black Rock, St Michael resident recounted.
“At the end of the night he told me, ‘Big guy, you should take this up and come out and take some pictures of me when I’m at events’. So the next weekend [I went] to Cave Shepherd and bought my first camera – a simple standard digital camera.”
That was about eight years ago and from there, Bajan Movement was born. It is a growing company that specialises in photography and video for sports, social events, weddings and concerts.
Jordan has since captured the images of many top artistes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad, in addition to a plethora of his more than 20 000 followers on social media platforms.
“We try to capture all the best moments for our clients so they can be relived in all forms, and as you look back, you see what fun you had on that special [day],” he said.
There isn’t an event where he cannot be found snapping images for posterity.
“I do move around a lot – on the stage, at the bars taking pictures of the staff and the promotional products, and then through the crowd getting all my friends and people I have met along the way who always like to have a great picture moment,” he said with a laugh.
Social media has been a best friend to Jordan since he started the business and he is very active, particularly on Instagram and Facebook.
The 38-year-old recalled that from the beginning when he began posting photographs, it was just for fun.
“I only had a liking for it up until that point. Social media became an outlet for me to follow the work of other photographers I admire, learn and practise my craft without having so much to worry about, elements such as shutter speed, ISO . . . .
“But something clicked for me after meeting Versee and I became more serious about the craft. I made a conscious decision to improve my skills, bought my first Nikon DSLR and so I began studying photography and began to compose photos like crazy every chance I got.
“Coincidentally or not, my photos got incredibly better with every composition and this was around the time when I began to get a larger following.
“Social media to me is awesome and I’m incredibly thankful for this exposure because it has helped to grow my career by leaps and bounds. It helps you to get your images to be seen across the world, which is also great for Barbados because people who always hear about how beautiful our island is and how we like to party like there is no tomorrow get that chance to live it through the photos,” Jordan said.
An alumnus of the former St James Secondary School, Jordan acknowledged there was a glut of people taking pictures, but he wasn’t concerned about the competition.
“Yes, I know every day there is someone else with a camera saying [they] are doing events and cruises because everyone wants a piece of the entertainment life, but I just try to focus on composing the best photos possible by making sure everyone likes the picture before going forward, yet ensuring I get the fundamentals correct.
“Some people think that photography just entails taking a camera, pointing and shooting, but the art of photography takes so many other things into consideration. The use of light, composition, the subject, mood and so on, and it’s all about good timing.
“Being good at these things has helped me build a fan base that makes people look forward to seeing their photos posted on social media.”
He hopes to become a global photographer, travelling all over the world taking photos of international artistes and sportspeople.
“In life we look at the success of others and wonder if our story could ever resemble theirs. My definition of success is to have a global household and on the street a name that everyone remembers and recognises when they hear the name Bajan Movement,” Jordan added. (SDB Media)
