Meet Stewart Smith

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stewart Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stewart below.

Stewart, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

At a very young age, my sister introduced me to Photography. She took photography classes in school and every now and then she would let me borrow her camera. I would take pictures of scenery and my friends. There was one time in particular I remember where I was in high school and my friend had a party. I brought my little point-and-shoot camera to the party and took pictures of my friends acting crazy. This was back in the days of film processing. The day after the party, I went to the drugstore and dropped my film off awaiting the pictures to get printed. A few days later, I went back to pick up the pictures and brought them to school. It was at gym class. My friends were all sitting on the bleachers waiting for the bell to ring and I took the pictures out and showed them. They all laughed and I remember them hitting each other on the back, laughing and joking and poking fun at each other. What impacted me was how I could make people feel something with pictures that I’ve taken. My images have brought out emotions in my friends that I never could’ve done otherwise. I knew at that moment Photography was something that I had a deep passion for. Fast-forward to today, I have used my Photography to bring tears to people’s eyes, make people feel good about themselves, build self-confidence and also for people to have cherished memories. I am documenting moments in time and I’ve come to realize how important that is. Everybody is going through something and when people do a photo shoot with me, I feel like it is therapeutic to both them and myself. I have a deep faith in God and I believe that during my photo shoots, whether I am taking pictures of people or scenery, God is with me and allows me to look deep into my subject and capture their true essence. I have been put in so many places to capture things that I feel like only God allows me to do. I want people to leave a photo shoot feeling different about themselves and also knowing there’s something different about me. I mix my spirituality with my creativity. I feel very blessed and do my best to bless others and always make everybody feel their true authentic self. I know I’m not the best photographer on the planet, but I always feel content knowing I gave everybody my best. I pour into everyone I work with with deep empathy, knowing that these people come to me looking for something that says something about themselves.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

In the world of Photography and also social media, everything changes so quickly. I feel like you always need to keep up with the trends. The way I do things is stay consistent. There’s a certain way I like to light people and pose people. I do not rely on Photoshop. I try to shoot my subject matter as perfectly as I can. I feel like a lot of photographers follow trends. They use a lot of filters and effects. I consider myself old school. I do my best to photograph my subjects as raw as possible without using anything to enhance the image. What may be cool now may end up looking kind of cheesy 10 years from now. I want people to look at the image I create of them 10 years from now and still love them. I try to keep my work looking timeless.
I think the biggest thing that has kept me in business for over 25 years is I always like to talk to the people that I’m working with. I try to find out something about them. Their interests or places they like to frequent. I would never do a photo shoot of somebody in a field if they tell me their favorite place is the ocean. Things like that. I have had other photographers ask me how I got certain photos of certain people they have worked with and said they couldn’t do that with them. My answer is simple. I asked them if they talked with them or went over any ideas.. Knowing your subject matter is probably the most important thing about photographing anyone.
Another big thing is self assurance. Anytime I’m working with anyone, I always let them know what a great job they’re doing. I direct the people I work with. That is another big thing. You never want anyone to look awkward or stiff. I like to keep my photo shoots loose so I do my best to crack a joke here and there or say something funny or even put myself as the one they laugh at. I’m not afraid to make fun of myself. I would say 50% of my clients come to me just because of the person I am not so much because of the pictures I take. Because I’ve been doing this for so long, I feel like I am a safe place for many people. Not everybody likes getting their pictures taken, but because of who I am and my reputation, people feel comfortable working with me that might not feel comfortable going to photographers they’ve never heard of before or know their character. Everyone I work with I give the same amount of respect to. I am very grateful for people that come to work with me. I know there are 1 million photographers out there, and the fact that they have chosen me to work with is always an honor and something I am very sensitive about. I give everyone I work with 110% and I think they all feel that. Anytime somebody steps in front of my camera, my main goal is to make them leave feeling better about themselves. I want every photo shoot to be an experience and something they may want to do again later on down the road.
One more thing that I always think about is, I am creating memories. I know that there will be a time that I am no longer here or the people that I’m working with will be gone. These images of them will last forever and be handed down to other family members or even friends later on throughout the years.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

One of the biggest things I have learned is how to accept the word no.
I would say the biggest career move for me was when I submitted photos to the New England Patriots for four years. I wanted to photograph the New England Patriot Cheerleaders calendar. I would send them my photos year after year and they would write me back and say no thank you. I never gave up. On that fifth year, they called me and told me they wanted me to photograph their calendar. I would say that’s my biggest accomplishment in my career. In 2005 I photographed the entire 2005 New England Patriots cheerleader swimsuit calendar. Because of that, every time I heard the word no it made me work harder to get the word yes!!
There are still times when I reach out to companies or to people and the answer is no, but I move on to other ventures that fulfill me. The biggest bit of advice I can give anyone is to never give up and to keep trying.

Another big thing is if and when you set your mind on something you need to go for it. You can ask people for advice and if they say no, that doesn’t mean you have to stop trying to fulfill that dream. Follow your heart!

I went to college at the Rhode Island School of Photography. It was a two year program. When I got out, I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to start my career. The best way that I learned my craft was to find friends and people who would work with me where I could learn how to pose them, light them correctly and also communicate properly. I am so grateful to all the people who worked with me earlier in my career to help me develop my style. Don’t be afraid to do a few freebies along the way. It’s not actually doing something for free if you are gaining something out of it.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

A perfect client to me as somebody who wants to use me to help build them up or build their brand up. A perfect client to me would be somebody who is also into networking. It’s very frustrating to do a job for somebody or a business where they post my images all over the place and then don’t give me a photo credit. There have been times I have done a job being told I would get exposure from it, but never did. It is so frustrating and discouraging when you get let down that way. Anytime anyone tells me they’ll just give me photo credits for a job I do for them and not actually get compensated I don’t take on that job anymore. Getting photo credits does not pay the bills.
I feel fulfilled when my client and I cross promote each other. Whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram or any other social media platform. I do a lot of model portfolios and it’s disappointing when the model posts their photos and don’t give a photo credit or even tag me. I don’t understand that. I’m not sure if it’s just an age gap or just the way that I was brought up or the way that I do business. I try to educate people on how important it is to me as a business where Photography is my livelihood and the only thing that I do. I tell them how important it is to be acknowledged for the work that I have done and they still don’t do a credit. So that being said. A perfect client for me is anyone who wants to build me up as much as I wanna build them up. I will be a lifelong ally.

I love to travel. I am always happy to hop in my car and drive or hop on a plane and fly to a destination to do a job for somebody. I have been blessed to have booked jobs where I have done a wedding in Italy throughout the United States.

If there is anyone out there interested in working with me you can find my work at http://stewartsmithphotography.com or on my Instagram at http://instagram.com/stewartsmithphotography

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Image Credits

Stewart smith photography

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