"If You Ain't Been in Vogue" - A Quick Story From Negril
Quick Story Time
We stayed in a resort across the street from this shop, a space that acted as a hub for the local community. From mid-afternoon when they opened til early the next morning, people flowed in and out of this place shopping for quick goods, reasoning with familiar faces, and just kicking in a place away from home. Because the shop was across the street, we passed it every day on our way to a new excursion. After passing by it for a few days, we decided to go check it out.
As a street photographer turned fashion and portrait photographer, my usual approach is to ask forgiveness rather than risk a “No” by asking permission, so we got to it and started shooting. Funny enough, this first photo was the first photo we took of this set. As we started shooting and I got closer, I noticed there was a guy named Richard inside, at this point in the story, he is of little importance. But like usual in these situations where we have embraced the diaspora, they have shown us the same love in return. Cynthia, the woman who ran the shop welcomed us in and even wanted us to stay longer. We shot for about 20 minutes and then stuck around for the next 30 connecting with both Cynthia and Richard.
The moral of the story is that when you engage people respectfully and with intentions of connection rather than fear, you tend to get treated like family in return. This is one of the stories from our Jamaica trip that I’m sure will stay with us for years to come and even more so now that this moment is cemented in Vogue.
More stories from this trip will drop soon as I am still processing some of the amazing content we were able to capture. But in the mean time, enjoy the full versions of these photos.