Walter Chin was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, to shopkeepers Tee Chin and Shirley Wong Sue Chin. His father was born in Jamaica, his mum in Guangdong Province, China. You would have seen his credentials on the cover of major glossies from Vogue to Sports Illustrated, with Glamour and Neiman Marcus catalogues in between, but might not have known that he is a proud Jamaican.

Style Observer (SO) caught up with Chin a few weeks ago, in between shooting Neiman Marcus’s Christmas book.

Chin attended Cornwall College in Montego Bay where he obtained his O levels and finished grade 13 at Overlea-Don Mills Secondary School, Ontario Canada. From there it was off to York University and then Ryerson University where he received a bachelor of photographic arts…

It was at Overlea that I took my first photo… it was a course that was offered in art school but it wasn’t until I enrolled at the visual arts programme at York, that I really got interested in photography. I found it to be much more natural and easier to apply than drawing or painting. The Ryerson photography programme was dedicated to the fine arts so the commercial aspect of photography was not at all encouraged. So I decided to assist a commercial photographer during my fourth year, who happened to be a fashion photographer called Gerard Gentile.

But the underlying decision came when I saw a picture in Vogue of 1970s supermodel Patti Hansen shot by Richard Avedon. It was a fashion portrait and I was really intrigued by it because the lighting was so Rembrantesque and beautiful and it cemented my interest in fashion photography. I decided if I didn’t succeed in the world of visual arts my Plan B was to go back to Jamaica and become a chicken farmer!

My most memorable shoot was for… the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue which took me on a safari into the Maasai Mara savannah of Kenya. It was a truly unique experience shooting among the Maasai warriors in their swimsuits and with all the wildlife that was present: giraffes, lions, elephants, zebras, just to name a few. Then came the night gazing up into the sky, seeing all the stars and feeling like a tiny speck in the realm of the vast universe.

COVID-19 came and it devastated the fashion and beauty business and livelihoods… No one worked for almost two years and the way people worked in the industry changed forever. My career was focused on international travel, on location shoots around the world, and in studio gatherings of teams of people dedicated to getting the work done. COVID-19 meant that the productions with models and hair and make-up teams, designer fashion shoes and all of the work that came from it evaporated.

I tried doing shoots remotely but I disliked it in particular because I had no control over the final image. For example, the lighting could not be adjusted except by the subject so it becomes a very imprecise execution, not representative of my style, and ultimately a frustrating experience.

My latest job has been… the Neiman Marcus Christmas book, which I’ve done for a number of years. This season it is all about the celebration of the holidays because they did not create a campaign for nearly two years. After being dormant the morning started with the new normal which involved being tested as I arrived on set, showing proof of my vaccine and wearing a face mask all day. There was a crew of 97 people; dogs, llamas and an ice sculpture were just a few of the props on set. I thought it would take a bit to find my rhythm and groove, but surprisingly it came right back within minutes. Shooting for me is as natural as breathing. I hustled through 10 shots with 10-30 models in each shot, with the llamas, confetti, balloons, ballet dancers, belly dancers, hair and make-up, social media crews, the stressed-out clients, all waiting for me to give direction. It was exciting and energising to be back on set and off my sofa! Over the next three days, I never skipped a beat as the days rolled on shooting and editing over 6,000 frames for the 2021 Neiman Marcus Holiday Christmas book, including ecomm and social.

The pandemic has made me realise… how important family, my loved ones, and friends are to me. It made me realise that all of those big achievements, possessions, glamorous travel, fabulous experiences don’t matter. I don’t need anything, I’m resilient and my priorities have changed.