TITLE: Strength - Planted by the Water

This image was captured using a Pentax 6x7 Medium Format film camera on Kodak TriX 400 and self-developed.

AUTHOR: Guilden Gilbert (Bahamas)

I was born and raised in Bermuda and began photography as a 15 year old back in 1981 when I selected photography as my hobby for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme the medium was 35mm B&W film which we learned to also develop.

I am completely self-taught as back then photographers were reluctant to teach a potential competitor any of the "secrets" I read, rather skimmed a few photography books but I have learned by doing, not reading how to. Outside of the Duke of Edinburgh photography I shot 7 to 8 rolls of colour film a week and my parents paid for the processing. I would select a scene, pick my settings based on the internal analog meter of my SLR and I would shoot at multiple exposure settings, recording each one so when I got the prints back I knew which settings I used for each frame. This is how I learned to see light and how I got to understand the Exposure Triangle without knowing there was such a thing as the Exposure Triangle.

I have not put the camera down since that time.

My photography work does not afford me any income to write home about but I do consider myself a professional but that is because of the experience and knowledge I have gained over these past 36 years.

I have been living in the Bahamas since 1997 and today my shooting revolves around Sports (I have been fortunate to be able to shoot the IAAF World Relays under contract with the Local Organising Committee, I have shot World Cup Football Qualifiers for Bermuda, World Cup Beach Soccer Qualifiers for the Bahamas Football Association, the CARFITA Games, an exhibition football game between Tottenham Hotspurs and the Jamaica National Team, as a Crossfitter I am the official photographer for my Box), Portaits, Nature, Landscapes/Seascapes.

I have had an image selected for permanent archive at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, I have shown my work, I have entered global contests and had photos selected for gallery display but I am truly proud to be a photographer for the Bahamian Project (www.bahamianproject.com), an ongoing project documenting, in portraiture, average Bahamians who have had a positive impact on their country. The goal is to create a National Portrait Archive. We recently held the largest portrait exhibit ever held in the Caribbean with over 130 portraits.

In partnership with another photographer I have begun to teach this fine craft and I do so because I love this art form and believe it is best to share your experience and knowledge rather than keep it to yourself.

Photography for me in the recording and freezing of a moment in time that will never happen again.