Look Into My Eyes Photography: Meet Roger, The Man Behind The Iconic Brand
The entire world is colourful through Roger Lewis’ eyes; every story is one worth being told and every person, a thing of beauty to behold.
“Sometimes when I go out and shoot there is a point where I stop seeing the people as people and I start seeing characters, I start seeing shapes, colours. Everything starts to look like something to me. It’s just a whole different zone, to me it really is a gift,” the Laventille-born, Chaguanas-based artist shares in a sit-down conversation with Your Caribbean Guide.
Tracing back to his boyhood, Lewis recalls how his imagination was first fed by observing the male figures in his life.
“I grew up in a house where my father was a creative. He was an artist, he used to do posters for cinemas. He used to bring home a piece of block of wood, and he would carve it and then I’d see a boat or an afro comb. Ladies would bring their jeans and he would sew it and it would come out to a skirt or hats…he would do anything. He was illiterate in the sense that he couldn’t read, he couldn’t write. But his power was in his hands. All that time I didn’t realize I was absorbing.”
The first time Roger Lewis picked up a camera was in 2002 though his first creative outlet was through art, which he pursued as a student at Barataria Senior Comprehensive Secondary, under the guidance of his teacher Makemba Kunle, veteran artist and owner of the renowned Studio66 Art Gallery.
“Mr. Makemba taught me a lot of things, (working with) oils and acrylics. My introduction to photography started with art, drawing and painting. Then (later on) I went to Tobago as the manager of a firm, I was there for two years. While there my father sent for me one of his old cameras, a film camera and I started taking photos that way, sending it to develop and so on. Then, my mother sent me a digital camera, a point-and-shoot and I realized, but wait nah, I can take how many pictures I want,” he recounts.
Once able to eventually upgrade his camera to a standard DSLR, he would begin to explore the possibility of pursuing a career in the field.
“There was no turning back. The first major thing I did was the Flugtag event with Redbull (in 2011). I went down there (at William’s Bay in Chaguaramas and I realized shooting the public in public spaces, I can do that and get away with it. And from there I started loving the streets.”
Over the last four years, Lewis’ photography brand ‘Look Into My Eyes’ has carved a special niche in the local photography sphere; his lens places a special focus on people from all walks of life, including those often deemed unworthy of being immortalized in portrait.
“People who they might say ugly, or what. I still see something in that person and capture. I see something beautiful in everybody. Real people would tell me, they don’t like pictures, but they do when I capture them. I don’t know, I think it’s just a blessing, a gift from the ancestors. To me, the way I interact with people… I would see a moment coming and I try to prepare for when it happens,” he details of his creative process.
“I might see somebody explaining a joke to somebody and I know right after that there’s going to be a joyful moment so it’s for me to try and capture that moment. I wait for moments.”
At the core of his work, too, is an ability to connect with his subjects on a human level.
“I mean, I’m really thankful for growth in the hood because I am now able to adapt to any condition. You know, it makes me able to deal with anybody in any level more or less,” he shares.
Lewis has amassed a social media following of 100,000 plus through his work, with fans from across the globe.
“I remember there was a time I received a phone call. On the other end it was an African-speaking man. And he said ‘Look into my eyes’ you are a hero to us, we love you in Africa! It turned out that they were connected with the Emancipation Village. Just touching people is enough for me. Sometimes I go right here, in town and people run up to me and say I’m from Canada, I’m from this place, and you know they say they love your work. It’s really very nice.”
At this stage of his career, he’s beginning to think more about ways he can pass on his wealth of knowledge to those wanting to gain experience in the field.
“I am thinking about teaching photography… I don’t claim to know everything but what I know I would love to pass on. I don’t have kids so I would love to pass on something. I actually wrote out a program to do a teaching class, I want to do it in our community centre in Edinburgh 500, at least start there,” he says.
Even with the level of success he has amassed, Lewis reveals, surprisingly, that it his dream and goal to retire from active photography in the near future, returning to his first creative love: art.
“Just last night I lay down and I am thinking about how to do this. I just want to capture everything. Art is what I want, I want to draw, I want to create, that’s what I love. As a matter of fact, the reason I do photography is because of art. I want to be able to take my photography pieces and collage them, paint them and make stories,” he says.
Years after leaving secondary school, and prior to becoming a full-fledged photographer, Lewis recalls reconnecting with Mr. Kunle, earning the opportunity to exhibit some of his work.
“It was in the Emancipation Village where my work was featured two years in a row. And I sold, I sold among Leroy Clarke, proud moment. I’ve painted before and I stopped, painted and stopped. And every time I went back, I went to a different dimension. With art, it’s more personalized, I can give more of myself than I can give through the photography. I still have some of my incomplete paintings, I think that is what I will return to.”
Wherever the journey takes him, his work will forever be inspired by the people and the land he loves.
“I wish at some point, that I could do a photograph of every person in Trinidad and Tobago, he laughs. I wish I could give everybody a proper portrait shot. I would wish on my passing that everybody posts a profile picture that I did of them. I want my photography to live on. When people look back want to know what Trinidad was like back long time, they can go through my photos,” he ends.
Roger Lewis
Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to express.