By Anselma Aimable
Caribbean Net News St Lucia Correspondent
Email: anselma@caribbeannetnews.com
CASTRIES, St Lucia: Kirk Elliott, who is often referred to as ‘St Lucia’s Photography Ambassador’, is on a quest to promote St. Lucia through the lens of his camera. At the end of July and early this August, Elliott took this quest a step further with a meeting in New York with the Photo Editor of “The Knot” Bridal Magazine, a Sunday interview with CHRY 105.5 F.M., a university community radio station in Toronto, Canada, and a meeting at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with some new as well as some seasoned photographers, specializing primarily in wedding photography.
During his interview with popular primetime Canadian radio announcer, Mortimer, Elliott promoted pictures from his recent solo photo exhibition “Dare to Dream”. Said Mortimer, “It would be really good to take the Dare to Dream Exhibition to Toronto for St. Lucians here as well as the wider Toronto to see and I will talk to you off air about this possibility.”
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| Artist Kirk Elliott. Photo by Anselma Aimable |
Elliott informed his audience that no less a person than Oprah Winfrey, through her Oprah Magazine, had endorsed St. Lucia’s Pitons as the # 1 place to visit in your lifetime.
Elliott noted: “I was so moved by Oprah’s statement that I have put The Pitons on display for the entire world to see. Now St. Lucians living abroad, as well as the rest of the world, can freely enjoy a slice of our paradise.”
Following this interview Elliott was invited to meet with Rebecca Crumley, Photo Editor at “The Knot Magazine” where he discussed photo submissions of St. Lucian weddings with her.
The Knot has been rated as the number one in its business, catering to brides and is always on the lookout for new places, angles and interesting stories for the numerous magazines they produce.
The Knot’s media coverage is so significant that they produce different copies of their popular bridal magazines for the different states within the United States of America.
Elliott said, “By developing such strategic relationships with international business partners not only am I promoting St. Lucia abroad, but I am also showing the world countless reasons to visit St. Lucia, starting with our natural beauty, then going further to show that there are world class professionals right here in St. Lucia.”
Elliott, who is St Lucia’s only member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), was recently invited to join Pictage, a California based photo fulfillment organization that is used by the world’s top photographers for the production of wedding albums and enlargements. Pictage is the fulfillment house of choice for major Hollywood celebrities and the likes of Donald and Melania Trump.
“By being invited to join Pictage now anyone who enlists my photographic services can have their work produced by the same people who work for the stars!” said Elliott, “And the first Pictage album will be delivered to a proud St. Lucian bride shortly,” he continued.
After leaving New York Elliott journeyed to Miami to participate in the monthly meeting of the Miami chapter of the Pictage User Group, held at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. At these meetings members discuss industry trends, changes and challenges within the rapidly evolving digital photography market.
Elliott commented to the gathering that it was interesting to note that Miami photographers were faced with the same problems as St Lucian photographers, of clients wanting to dictate terms of photo usage and remuneration, and that it was very instructive to observe how the Miami photographers sought to combat this problem through open dialogue among themselves.
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| Governor General (R), Dame Pearlette Louisy presenting a Kirk Elliott Pitons to the Government and people of Taiwan. |
He also laments the disorganized state of professional photography in St. Lucia as it only serves to retard the development of the art form to the ultimate detriment of both the St. Lucian photographer as well as his clients.
Said Elliott, “It is important that as photographers, we sensitize our clients to the significance of the legal use of the intellectual property that we produce whenever we are commissioned.” Elliott further stated, “The problem is, with the advent of digital photography our equipment has become much more expensive, becomes obsolete every 3 – 5 years and requires programs where sometimes a key must be purchased for every machine on which that program is installed.”
Elliott encourages all St. Lucian photographers to look beyond St. Lucia with their photography as there is tremendous potential for our collective work to positively impact the wider world and to bring valuable foreign exchange into the St. Lucian Economy. |
