Go Slow
by Ryan Borne
I started taking photos around three years ago during high-school. I was about 17 at the time. The passion for photography started by shooting fighter jets; something I couldn’t get enough of.
When I came back to my hometown in St. Barths, an island in the northeastern Caribbean, photography and filmmaking were just hobbies. I picked up a full-time job as a truck driver / warehouseman. After a while this decision started to wear on me, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled. I told myself, “You can either continue this job and keep picking up trash for the rest of your life, or you can take a shot at photography / filmmaking and see what happens.”. I continued in the workforce while I saved up enough money to buy my dream camera, the Canon 1DX mkii. Soon after, I freelanced in my spare time and perfect my craft.
I have just recently been able to turn photo and video work into a full-time job with the opportunity to work for Coral Gardeners located in Moorea French Polynesia.
We began the Go Slow Video Project about a year ago with Rodolphe and are finally starting to see the vision come to life. Working with Rodolphe on this project has been an awesome experience. We share the same passion for sports, the ocean, and the place we live in, St. Barths. We are both very committed to what we love. That’s what kept us motivated and shooting despite the really busy schedules and weather conditions.
There’s a quote I really love from one of Captain Potter’s videos, which is, “I want my life to be the best movie i’ve ever seen.”. I don’t have any precise goals or dreams at the moment. I think I just want to live a life that is worth remembering and do whatever it takes to keep doing what I love.
The ocean has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up in the middle of the Caribbean Sea and spent most of my childhood playing in the ocean, dreaming to explore and capture all the wonders this magical place has to offer.
I believe that sometimes you just need to slow down and take it all in to truly appreciate the moment you live in and what’s around you… This is what the Go Slow Project is all about. I grew up on the Island of St. Barths and wanted to show what this place has to offer. It’s known as a vacation spot for the famous and wealthy, but it’s also home for many ocean lovers. I want the project to remind people how beautiful their home is and why they should take care of it.
This video project’s goal is to showcase a different lifestyle and encourage people to want to reconnect with the ocean and nature. It was quite difficult to shoot everything as we were both working full-time jobs. We had to match our schedules and be available whenever the weather was good, so it took us about 10 months to a year to get all the footage we needed. Then another two months to edit. Overall, Go Slow is an impactful project that is very important to me and what I stand for.
