Business Feature: Island Photography

“With the creation of Island Photography, my specialty has always been portraiture, showcasing true personalities and telling every person or family’s unique story.” – Alecia Watson

Hello, I am Alecia Watson, and I created Island Photography during my maternity leave with our only daughter back in 2021. I am a mother to a beautiful daughter, two dogs (sisters), a wife, and a full-time payroll clerk for our local school district. We reside in a small town called Youbou on Vancouver Island, BC, where we spend our time together on the lake most often. I commute every day for work and location scouting around our beautiful Cowichan Valley. Together, my husband and I are charity community members, and he is an active member of the volunteer fire department.  

As a high school student back in the day, you would find me in the dark-room lab during my free time. I was always fascinated by cameras, film, and editing techniques! I was gifted my first DSLR camera for graduation, and my passion only grew from there.

With the creation of Island Photography, my specialty has always been portraiture, showcasing true personalities and telling every person or family’s unique story. During this time, I have photographed every stage in life, from maternity and newborns, families, engagements and weddings, graduating seniors, and my favorite, lifestyle creative sessions. With this experience, I found a passion for photographing families, documenting children being children, and parents enjoying time with their kids. On occasion, you will see on my social media model calls asking to create a new fun idea I envisioned. This is my moment to create MAGIC! My sessions are always stress-free and majority of the time, candid to capture your real laughter, joy, and emotions.

It can be quite difficult running a small business in a large industry nowadays. There are so many different editing styles out there. Island Photography’s editing style is very important to me, as my clients choose my business on two factors; my personality while photographing their memories and the colors/style I vision for their final images. My editing style is very much BRIGHT, BOLD, and COLORFUL. Like my life, I love the true-to-life colors the world shows us every day! I want my images to look how I saw you in real life but in the best light. I spend time ensuring the light looks good on your skin tone, your placement is flattering, and no obstructions are in the way. On all portraits, I take my time editing out unwanted blemishes, skin retouching, and discoloration in indoor locations. I do not focus on physical features and photo shopping your appearance. I am documenting those unique features that make you human, and remind you who you really are in that moment.

Running this small business on my own, has its challenges. I carry a lot of responsibility for keeping up my reach on social media, scheduling sessions, collecting payments/ deposits, creating contracts, editing and pushing the shutter button.

However, my business moto is not just “pushing the shutter button” during my time with you. I create relationships before, during, and after our session together. During your time booked with me, I like to block off extra time to get to know each other a little bit and then ease into some poses. A lot of my work is called “candid” moments, meaning “acting naturally or spontaneously without being posed”. I find this is the best use of time to enjoy the moment we are capturing together. During my family sessions, I like to plan a fun family outing to get you moving, or my best resource is the blanket parachute for younger kids.

“The world moves fast, changing everything around us with each new day. Photography is a gift that can keep us in a moment forever, blissfully eternal” – Ali Novak

I accept all inquiries through email [email protected] over the phone at 250-510-7798, or through my booking site on my website. I use social media such as Facebook and Instagram @Van.islanderPhotographer and my website URL is www.islandphotography.ca

I always encourage you to reach out with any questions, support, and advice you may have. My inbox is always open and my heart is ready to create new relationships with you along the way.