Rockin' Shots

When other children in Dildo were busy watching cartoons and curling Barbie's hair, Sandra Lee Elford contented herself by playing make believe and dreaming of becoming a rock star photographer.

"I'd take pictures of posters on my walls and pretend I actually met the people," Elford laughs.

"The posters were specifically Justin Timberlake from N'Sync, and Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. I'd pretend I'd actually met them and I'd experiment with covering up the flash and figuring out how to get the glare off the posters so it would seem more life-like," the 21-year-old recalls.

Elford was born in Toronto, grew up in her dad's hometown, Dildo, and moved to St. John's three years ago.

While her parents aren't musically inclined, Elford says her 13-year-old brother Matthew has found his niche playing guitar and drums.

Raised on music by legends such as Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan, carving a career as a music/fashion photographer has never left her mind, she says.

"When I look at a person, I always think that I'd love to get them in front of the camera. I do that a lot, too, with scenic areas of Newfoundland and that's why I'm hardly ever without my camera."

When she moved to St. John's after completing high school, Elford was immediately drawn to the city's vibrant music scene.

About to complete photography studies at Academy Canada, she is already sought after by local bands.

"It's thrilling to be so close to a band taking pictures knowing that they actually look forward to seeing the pictures from the show the next day," she says.

When it comes to promoting and photographing musicians, Elford is not daunted by the surging popularity of the web.

Rather, she's learned the ropes of creating websites for self-promotion as well as helping others promote themselves.

"Bands will always need photography, for promotional shots, for their web pages, MySpace, everything, just to let the masses know what they look like on the outside," she says.

For someone who says she "lives for local music and music in general," Elford doesn't take for granted the access she's been given or the trust placed in her by up-and-coming musicians.

"Every band wants awesome pictures. Most of them want those awe-inspiring live action shots to show that although their recordings are amazing, their live act is 10 times better."

She has taken photos for band's CD covers, but Elford says she finds fashion photography as exciting as shooting singers.

"There are a never-ending amount of poses, techniques and lighting you can do with a fashion model compared to the average portrait shot," she says.

"But a lot of my portrait shots turn into fashion shoots, because that just comes natural to me."

While a simple portrait shot is sometimes called for, Elford says posed or stage photographs really aren't her cup of tea.

"They're my weakness actually because I'd rather someone come in, be themselves, laugh and have a good time. The best pictures are from when they're acting natural."

Elford shoots mainly film on a Nikon d70.

While she doesn't graduate from her photography course for another few weeks, she has already invested over $4,000 in cameras, flashes, backdrops and props and has taken on freelance assignments for several publications.

Now that she has her own website (www.sandraleephotography.net) she's also exploring the world of maternity, infant and family photography.

As long as it involves a camera, Elford says she's up to the challenge.

"I think I'd be lost if I wasn't able to be a photographer."

She admits not everyone appreciates or understands her addiction to the lens.

"I've had complaints from friends who say I talk about photography too much, that I don't think about anything else. But it's not just a career to me, it's my entire life. I surround myself with it, I constantly learn something new each day."

When asked which band she's dying to shoot, Elford says it would be Hedley - a group she's already captured on camera on several occasions.

Sandy Stokes is lead singer for the local band Queen's Maid, a band Elford has shot many times.

"I've always said that Sandra Lee makes us look good because anybody that goes on our website, they get to see the pictures that she's taken," Stokes says. "She knows our music inside out and, when she comes to our shows she gets the shots that other photographers wouldn't be able to get."

danette@nl.rogers.com