The Portland natives — Weir 31, and his friends Joel Matthews, 29, and Dale McKenzie, 27 — have since created their own employment through the establishment of Rush Photography Jamaica, which is doing thriving business in this eastern parish.

“I used to always use my phone to take pictures and people would say, ‘you take such nice pictures’, and so my brother who lives abroad decided to get me a camera,” Weir told the

Jamaica Observer North East.

Matthews recalled that the journey began last July, when Weir asked for a ride to Folly Great House in the parish to experiment with his camera by doing a photo shoot of his niece who had volunteered to be the model. After the four-hour shoot, Weir edited the photos using a Lightroom software which was given to him by Dr Videl Smith.

Weir shared the photos with his brother, who was so impressed with them that he posted them to a

Facebook page. Almost immediately, the photos received a lot of positive feedback and likes on the popular social media network with people expressing an interest in having their photos taken.

“It was all so sudden as people started asking about pricing and we didn’t know what to say because we had never done this before,” they recalled.

After doing some research, the trio took their first paid job doing a photo shoot of a mother-to-be at Winnifred Beach in the parish.

“She was heavily pregnant and we were nervous at first, because we didn’t know how to tell people to pose, and so we did a whole night of research on the Internet to prepare,” Matthews explained.

They recalled that the subject of the photo shoot was very jovial. That helped them to relax and for things to flow naturally.

Their next big assignment was a wedding, and Weir recalled he was on the brink of cancelling because of how nervous he was. But the couple insisted on having them do the job, despite being told that this would be their first wedding.

“That day I was so nervous that I felt like I was shaking. It was only when I saw someone that I knew that I started to feel a bit more comfortable,” he recalled.

The shoot was a great success and helped in opening the door for many other such bookings.

Mathews, who had just completed his degree in finance at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) and returned to Portland, said they opted to create business cards and distribute to potential clients. Additionally, they created a logo for their business and have since begun the process of registering the company.

In the meantime, Matthews and McKenzie had started sharpening their skills at photography and editing, and later acquired cameras of their own. Matthews said it was the perfect fit as he had some knowledge of Photoshop and designing, having done graphic designs while a student at UTech.

The trio have since spent a lot of time taking photos, becoming specialists in certain subject matters. Their editing skills, which help to enhance their photos, have also landed them a job editing photos for a modelling company in the United States.

“In perfecting the art, we used to just jump on our bicycle and just ride about looking for different things to take pictures of, and then we would come back and edit them,” said McKenzie. “If we are walking and we see a rose, we set it up and take photos of it because we don’t want on the day of a photo shoot to be trying to figure out the set-up.”

While the trio get a lot of requests to shoot weddings, they also do a lot of family portraits and scenery and have since developed individual preferences for certain subject matters. For Weir, one of his favourite subjects to shoot is babies and expectant mothers. McKenzie loves anything to do with nature, while Matthews prefers historic landmarks.

Their work has also won them an award in the Jamaica Yellow Pages competition, ‘Jamaica Thru Your Eyes’, in the scenery category.

Matthews is employed at the Scotiabank in Portland. However, Weir and McKenzie have since quit their jobs to focus on developing the business.

The trio say they are now looking for an ideal location in Port Antonio to establish a studio with a difference, as they say they are not average photographers, but think outside the box. They have been delayed in identifying the ideal location as the young men say they want a ground floor office so they can have the disabled and elderly among their clientele. They envision a studio where clients can come in to have family portraits taken in a professional setting.

“Anybody can stand behind a camera, but for us it is not that simple, and that is why we are always doing a lot of research to constantly improve on what we offer,” said McKenzie.

The men say an advantage they have in their favour is the fact that they work as a team and do everything possible to ensure they have satisfied clients. This is evident in the reviews they continue to get from customers as well as fellow photographers.

“Every shoot we do we video the entire thing, and then we review it afterwards and see what we need to improve on,” Weir said.