Taking photos is more fun than work – photographer, Michael Gonsalves

Born 33 years ago to Corrine Gonsalves and the late Collin Ming was talented Michael Gonsalves, a photographer and videographer.
The man behind the lens is the only child of his parents who attended St Margaret’s Primary School, where he wrote the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) and was awarded a place at Christ Church Secondary School. There, he completed his secondary education by securing several passes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams.
Presently, he is happily married to Nafeeza Hussain-Gonsalves and is currently working on personal gigs.
While growing up, he wanted to become a mechanic and a metal fabricator but his career path changed. “I was first capturing photos and videos part-time at motor racing events, then I met up with a motor racing fanatic, and shortly after, I started to manage his Facebook page, and eventually, I became the team’s full-time photographer/videographer,” he explained.

By taking photos daily and sometimes under tough conditions including capturing scenes from helicopters, boats, and water bikes, he managed to master the trade. “Every new experience is a learning experience and by working under challenging circumstances, it tests my skills as a photographer – one that I master day after day.”

To capture the moments professionally, Gonsalves uses the Nikon z6ii and Nikon z7 lenses. Once the image is perfect, some photo-editing programmes such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC and Photoshop are used to enhance the quality of the final product.
At the end of the day, his favourite lens to work with is the Nikkor 105mm 1.4 since it is “very sharp at wide-open aperture”.
Concerning his favourite settings, the young photographer stated that he took his photos and videos manually and as such, he did not have one. For him, different conditions mean different settings.
Nevertheless, to get that perfect shot, he would ask those being photographed to remain relaxed and comfortable, and to pretend that he was not there. For him taking photos is something he enjoys doing and more so, he doesn’t see taking photos as work but more like having fun. With thousands of professional photos in his gallery, his favourite is one that he had taken with Team Mohamed’s #3 GTR spitting flames during a practice session at the South Dakota Drag Strip. Gonsalves is most impressed by the work of Larry Chen, who is a world-renowned car culture and commercial automotive photographer from Los Angeles.
He advises young people who are now getting into the profession to keep creating images and always think outside the box. “You are only limited to your imagination, be free and you will never be disappointed.”
On a lighter note, Gonsalves, also called Mike, enjoys fishing and looking at vlogs and tutorials on YouTube. His favourite colour is black and he loves to eat a well-prepared steak. Mike’s work can be viewed on his Instagram page Mike.592.