16-year-old photographer makes waves

Jamaicans have long been a staple on the International fashion scene, producing top male and female models. Now, a young teenager is hoping to give the industry a different taste of Jamaica as a leading fashion photographer.

Khouri used some of fashion's leading ladies for his inspiration, having already worked with the likes of Yendi Phillipps, Nell Robinson, Alexia Palmer, and Shevolee Bell. He has also done candid photos of Jeneil Williams and male model Oraine Barrett.

Currently attending the American International School of Kingston, Khouri first became interested in photography at the age of 10. He told The Sunday Gleaner, "I got my first tiny digital camera at age 11. Ever since then I've had a passion for capturing moments, and emotions and clothing. When I was 14, I began selling some of my nature, landscape work and I saved enough money to get a professional camera. It was only last year that I began shooting fashion and beauty."

Working with pulse models

In February of this year, Khouri took matters into his own hands and emailed modelling agency Pulse to learn more about the business. According to Khouri, he got a quick response from the agency. He worked closely with Pulse's Romae Gordon, who assigned him to take pictures of Pulse's top guns.

Having had no professional training, the youngster spent his summer wisely pursuing a photography programme at the School of Performing Arts and Cinema in New York.

He said: " I had absolutely no training with photography, during the programme I didn't learn much about digital photography because I knew a lot about it already. But I did learn a lot about film photography. I got to develop my own 35 millimetre film in a darkroom, and I also got to print on my own. It made me appreciate how far photography has come today. I definitely see myself starting to take more photos with a film camera."

It was music, music videos and the lives of celebrities that pushed the youngster to learn more about photography.

"I had a fascination with the life of celebrities, so I decided that I would try out taking pictures of my friends by trying to make them look 'model-esque' and like celebrities. I guess I succeeded because people seemed to think the pictures were great. After that, people motivated me to continue. I began doing more research ... . I want to make people feel great about themselves, even if they don't look like a model," he said.

Khouri has since devoured the pages of Vogue and the work of his favourite photographer Mario Testino. The budding photographer is eager to work with models such as Karlie Kloss, Natalia Vodianova, Lara Stone, and Baptiste Giabiconi. He is working with Buzzz Caribbean Lifestyle magazine, and is planning a shoot with Nell Robinson, but there is more to come. "I'm very hard-working and if I do make a big name for myself, I plan on using it for good. I want to start foundations for countries or societies in need, Jamaica being one of those. I also want to finish up art college ... . I think I want to do a bit of everything - I would love to continue fashion photography, but I would also want to do work with magazine creative directing, or modelling agencies, or public relations."