PHOTOGRAPHER The Story of Alfred Anderson

By Yolanda Hanna

Photographs Courtesy Of Alfred Anderson Photography

There is something magical about Alfred Anderson. Photographer. Creative Director. Videographer. Editor. The Brand. Alfred wears multiple hats in his creative universe; a space he elegantly manoeuvres in silence with a rare combination of talent, humility and genius. Visit the TikTok and Instagram pages of Alfred Anderson Photography and explore the world he has crafted within his brilliant mind.

You will be mesmerized by the breath-taking moments he captures through the lens of his camera. Alfred Anderson has an obvious ability to make models feel sexy, brides feel beautiful, and grooms feel like the luckiest man in the world.

Born and raised in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Alfred Anderson Lewis began manifesting the thoughts that would one day become his reality when he was just eight years old.

Smart and imaginative with a mind bursting with ideas, his talents were unlocked the day his mother gifted him with his first professional camera.

“When I was eight years old, I would use a string to hang white and black sheets in my bedroom. I pretended the sheets were curtains as I acted out the scenarios that I had in my mind. When my mom bought me my very first camera, an Olympus Point and Shoot, I was able to capture photos and record videos. I would spend hours looking at the images and playing the videos over and over again.”

That camera opened Alfred’s mind to the world of media. He seized every opportunity to sharpen his photography skills by becoming more focused, more creative, and more expressive with his projects.

He started to realize that the creative space he now occupied could give him the opportunity to do the things he loved to do and everything he imagined when he was eight years old. He could travel the world, take beautiful pictures, meet interesting people, and create interesting stories he acted out in his bedroom.

“I didn’t know what I could become until I saw other artists capturing and creating the images I saw in my head. I remember watching the television show ‘America’s Next Top Model’ for the first time. I was in the seventh grade and that show was a revelation for me because I learned that it was the photographer who created the imaginary and captured the stories through his camera.”

Alfred felt a connection to photography, but he also felt pressured by the expectations of those around him who wanted him to choose a more traditional career.

“I was smart. I always had perfect grades. When I graduated, I had the highest-grade point average in the school. All my life, I felt the pressure of everyone’s expectations for me to become a doctor or a lawyer. I knew that if I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, I could be, but I didn’t feel a connection to those careers. I didn’t feel the same as when I had my camera in my hand. My camera gave me the ability to create what I saw inside of my head.”

Following graduation, he enrolled in a college in Missouri, selecting computer information systems as a major. It was while Alfred was in college that his life took a different turn.

He decided to transfer to a nearby university and although he was accepted, he soon learned that the financial assistance he applied for in The Bahamas was no longer available and he would have to return home.

Alfred fell into a deep state of depression. He felt like he failed the high expectations of his family and all the people in his life.

“When I enrolled in college, I selected computer information systems as my major because everyone said I should choose a practical career. A friend suggested that I take a course in mass communications, and I loved it! I wanted to change my environment, so I applied to a university nearby and I got accepted.

When I was preparing to go to my new school, I learned that I didn’t get the grant I needed to cover my tuition. My parents couldn’t afford to pay for my tuition alone, so I couldn’t go back to school. I fell into a state of depression for three months. I didn’t eat. I wouldn’t come out of my room. I felt like I let everyone down and I didn’t know what I was going to do. A friend recommended that I read a book called ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. I started to read it and I started operating the principle of my thoughts becoming things. I decided to try it because my maxim has always been ‘imagination before reality’, so what could I possibly lose?”

By operating the principles, he learned in “The Secret”, Alfred got the inspiration to create Alfred Anderson, which was a more evolved, creatively focused company than the company he created in high school, Allie Boy Productions.

“I felt like I needed to ‘kill’ Allie Boy Productions because I wasn’t that person anymore. I wasn’t that smart, educated kid that everyone expected me to be. I wanted to get rid of that image. That version of Alfred Lewis or Allie lived in a depressive state in the past. So, I created something new. I combined my first name and my middle name, and I became Alfred Anderson. My dad’s name is Anderson Lewis, so I combined who my dad is and who I am because we share a similar story. My father had to leave school early, too, so I wanted to merge the two worlds in Alfred Anderson.”

Rising out of depression, with the full support of his family, Alfred Anderson began his new journey as a fashion photographer based on Grand Bahama. He quickly realized that opportunities for a fashion photographer were limited in Freeport. He began booking commercial photography jobs that eventually led to the reintroduction of a skill he had discovered when he was eight years old, videography.

“I studied digital film while I was in college. When I started receiving offers to shoot commercial photography, a corporate company offered me a job to produce my first commercial video. It was an easy job for me, but the client was surprised that I could do that kind of work because I was only known for photography at the time.”

It has been over 15 years since Alfred Lewis created Alfred Anderson. Today, Alfred Anderson is a multi-tiered brand that consists of Alfred Anderson Photography, Alfred Anderson Weddings, Signature Portraits, ACOM Commercial Photography and Videography, in addition to its most recent project, a YouTube Series called, “The A Team”, which was created by the Anderson Group. What’s next on the agenda for the creative genius? Keep looking into his universe to find out. UA

LLavado Stubbs is an international filmmaker who has directed documentaries, commercials for global brands, and music videos for international recording artists like Baha Men. However, this Bahamian director, writer and producer had an unconventional path to filmmaking. He notes that his parents’ unwavering support and encouragement nurtured a spirit of wonder and creativity that has resulted in an impressive and far-reaching career, filled with imaginative visual storytelling.

Up and Away: Can you walk us through a little bit about how you started your filmmaking career?

I started off as a visual artist when I was in high school. I did watercolour painting. But, when I was in the ninth or tenth grade, there was this United Nations video competition. Back then, we didn’t have YouTube, digital cameras and DSLRs. That didn’t exist. It was the video camcorder days, and this was a big competition. I was super proud to get honourable mention. And, a few years later, I went to Toronto, Canada, for university.

At the time, my major was sociology. I did not go straight into film at all, but Toronto is a very film-heavy place with really good incentives for filmmakers from around the world. There were big movies filming in the city all the time. A friend who was in a filmmaking program brought me on set for the first time. And, from there, I discovered that film was what I wanted to do.

After that, it became an obsession. I couldn’t do anything other than think about film. I was still a sociology major, but I also became an intern at a few production companies in Toronto. After a few workshops, I realized that I needed to focus on one aspect of filmmaking, and I eventually decided that I wanted to be a director. When I graduated from university in Toronto, I directed my first professional music video (for the artist KJ-Repeat, who now goes by the stage name Keita Juma), and that music video did wonders for my career. At the very end of the video, you also see a conch shell. That all started Conchboy Films.