When a young man overcomes personal heartbreak and manages to transform that bitter experience into a ‘celebration of life’ through artistic creativity, such accomplishment is a fulfilment in itself.
Daniel Marcion was just perusing his architectural career when he lost his loved one, Sheena in 2010. They had been together for about 10 years. Instead of giving in to despair, he overcame his grief by channelling his energies into developing his flair for photographic art. Sheena was the one who had given him a digital camera originally given to her by her step-dad as a gift. Before she died, she had always encouraged Daniel to stay focused on life and don’t allow her personal experience to hold him back and with that he took her advice.
After Sheena’s passing, Daniel “took that energy and used it to fuel me forward.” In hindsight, he turned to photographic art as a tribute to her. “Because of her, I am pushing this thing to literally get me focused
… It is like a tribute to her,” says Daniel. I prayed for strength and was blessed with close friends and family who were supportive and I’m thankful to them all the time.
Initially he kind of toyed with the idea as a hobby but pretty soon, according to him, “I kind of dived into it. It felt good playing around with the elements. And observing other people’s work, like Bill Mortley and Stephen Paul, spurred me on.”
A former student of St. Mary’s College and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Daniel studied architectural designs at SALCC and thereafter, he worked a few years in that field before moving to New York to further his studies in photography. He planned on settling in the Big Apple but took the advice of his tutor who convinced him that his talents could be put to better use back in his homeland. He said briefly why be a small fish in a big pond when you can be a big fish in a small pond” and those words were etched in me. Daniel was determined to be that big fish back home.
Daniel grew up in Bagatelle and currently resides at Cas en Bas, Gros Islet. He is the eldest of his parents’ three children. He has a brother and a sister. “It was a good family environment for me that I really appreciate,” he says. Some of his relatives are involved in music but Daniel is the only one in his family doing professional photography.
Following his return to Saint Lucia from the USA, his intention was to “create a photography brand, not a business.” Judging by the accolades he has received for his artwork and professionalism, both locally and internationally, and the volume of his work engagements, Daniel has succeeded in achieving the goals he set for himself.
He’s the founder of Belle Portwe Studios, a photography and wedding studio located at the Gablewoods Mall. They specialise in commercial, fine-art, portraiture photography, and his favourite genre, wedding photography. His work is also in high demand overseas, and his clientele have included international celebrities.
As much as he values the plaudits he has been receiving, Daniel especially appreciates the technical feedback he gets from friends and photographer buddies. He is part of a small group they dub the League of Photographers where they constantly motivate and inspire each other. Bill Mortley, Kirk Eliot and Stephen Paul, are veterans in the field who also serve as an inspiration to him. His biggest motivation though, lies in the work of international photographers .e.g. Karl Taylor, Lindsay Adler, Sue Bryce just to name a few, whose work he truly admires especially for their high end editorial style and glamorous wedding images.
Dazzle: How did you go about pursuing your dream to become a professional photographer?
Marcion: My work life actually started off in architectural designs, which was what I majored in at SALCC then transited to architectural illustrations which required showcasing architectural renderings to clients so that they can see what their soon to be homes look like on their property. I had been doing this for about 15 years. At some point it materialized into photography.
Three months after Sheena’s passing I booked a flight to New York where I did six-month courses in studio lighting, portraiture lighting and portraiture photography. I wanted to learn the art of pictorial story-telling and basically how to control light. Photography in Saint Lucia was not that developed at the time, and seeing what was obtained here I wanted to make a difference, in terms of the product. That led me to look at the works of international photographers, their studio operations and how they started off their business.
Dazzle: How long has your business been in operation?
Marcion: I started working from my parents’ home, utilizing a room to operate my studio. From the get- go I knew the genre I wanted to push was fine art and fashion. I started putting a lot of editorial flair into my work and tried to mimic magazines and editorial stuff, advertising – trying to get ideas from them. It began to pull me more into the editorial side of fashion and fine art, which was nice because fine art allowed me to capture inanimate objects and surroundings and demonstrate to the viewer that beauty is all around you. Initially everything went well and I got agencies calling. Then what happened was that my clientele started growing and became a little more corporate.
I was not satisfied with working the commercial aspect from home. The setting didn’t have the professional look that I wanted, so I began looking for a commercial space. Eventually I found one at Gable Woods Mall. I shared it with a friend who operated ‘Touché Media’ and I collaborated with her and did some shots for the Touché magazine.
After Touché moved on, I took the opportunity to occupy the whole space and turned it into our studio, which I’ve named Belle Portwe (Beautiful Picture).
The name came about because I have always loved Kwéyòl and the French language though can’t speak alot of it “ laughs”. I’ve been operating professionally for about four years and we are officially registered as a company.
Dazzle: What type of photography do you specialize in and why?
Marcion: Our main focus is fine art, commercial, portraits and weddings but push Destination Wedding as our primary genre. I decided to separate it from our current website www.belleporwe.com and created its own website for our brides. We created our wedding Belle at www.itsmyweddingbelle.com. My girlfriend, Hermina Nestor is my right hand and assistant. She is like the quality controller at the studio. She helps me get stuff done, my lighting assistant and that extra pair of eyes from a woman’s perspective gives me a lot of leeway, especially with our wedding clients who really appreciate having a woman around sometimes, to get things done. Oh and she’s a model too, how lucky am I.
Dazzle: What challenges do you face as a young entrepreneur and how do you overcome them?
Marcion: First and foremost was getting the resources to study that aspect of photography and take it up as a career. It isn’t something you can pursue academically in Saint Lucia. I think it was still a young, up-and-coming industry down here when I started the business – at a stage where it was transforming into digital photography, graphics and software integrated with images.
I signed up to a website called creativelive.com where I purchase a lot of my workshops. Finance is the next major consideration because you won’t get a lot of people investing in your business if you’re not well equipped. Photographic equipment is very costly. I think you just have to work hard and reinvest whatever monies you make back into the business. This to me was the most difficult aspect of the business. In addition, sometimes you get negative feedback saying that I already had a career in architectural designs, so why drop it. I just shrug, laugh and respond by saying there is nothing in someone having two careers.
Dazzle: How do you remain competitive in this saturated photography market?
Marcion: Social media has been a big help. It started giving me a little leeway for people to view what I do. I used to literally dump all the photos I shot onto Facebook, and you get the odd clients just inquiring. From among them you get people interested in your work and this opens a door of opportunity for you.
It started to build along those lines. We try to stick to destination weddings, which is probably 95 percent of the wedding photography that we do. We don’t really do the local aspect of it. We specialize in ‘definition weddings’ and we’ve actually partnered with Sandals as wedding photographers. We also have business ties with other resorts. When the guests come to Saint Lucia they contact our studio to photograph their weddings. Eventually we started getting a lot of corporate people contacting us. Thereafter I made it my goal to tackle a corporate firm every two months. We work hard at providing a quality customer experience, rather than just taking pictures, and that has helped us a lot.
Dazzle: What motivates you and gives you that thrill to keep pressing on, on a daily basis?
Marcion: What drives me is experiencing the creativity of photography and all the new elements that surrounds it. I want people to see the world through my lens and seeing such amazing work especially internationally motivates and inspirers me. Photography, to me, has to do with pushing your limits and acquiring knowledge, because you are always looking to better your craft.
Dazzle: So far, what has been your biggest accomplishment?
Marcion: One would have to be shooting for an international wedding. The clients flew us up to New York for the shoot and that was great from the wedding aspect of it. The other part of it is that we were actually the wedding photographer for a celebrity renewal vow at Sandals, and that was a major achievement for me, since they requested that I personally do the shoot.
Dazzle congratulates Daniel on his success and we wish him all the best for the future.
