Meet Kerry Constantino

 

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

Kerry , first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I am mostly self taught as a photographer and for years I felt like I had no business taking work or charging money to do photos. Then, I realized that there are photographers who have all of the formal training that still have imposter syndrome and still feel like they are figuring things out all the time and that was really eye opening.

I think there is something healthy in having a small dose of self criticism. It keeps me from getting too complacent and forces me to ask if I’m really pushing myself to create my best work.

I love learning and something that really has helped me break through moments where I feel like an imposter or I don’t deserve to be where I’m at is to take time before every session to prepare and educate myself on what I’ll be doing and who I’ll be photographing. Sometimes it is familiarizing myself with the light in a location I’ll be shooting by visiting or spending a long period of time there just paying attention. Sometimes I dedicate time to practice a technique that I am feeling a little shaky on. Other times, I will actually practice what I’m going to say before I’m in a session. So, I always go into a photo session feeling prepared, it can help keep the self doubt at bay.

The more I can learn about techniques, trends, new technology, and study others who inspire me the better. Being curious and learning more about what I do is cumulative, the more I learn the more prepared I am. It will always help me feel like I can hold my own if I’m surrounded by experts.

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?

I am a family, event, and lifestyle photographer based in Southern Maine. My work is more on the side of documentary photography but a lifetime in dance and theater has led me to be really comfortable giving direction to people who are nervous in front of a camera when needed.

I bring film cameras to every shoot and event. After all, making photos with old cameras and film is what brought me to photography in the first place. I love the way that being unable to see the images immediately changes the pacing of a session and helps people to relax. When we aren’t compelled to immediately judge the photos everything slows down a little.

Over the last few years I find myself photographing small business owners and artists at an increasingly greater frequency. In an age of ever present AI and computer generated imagery, people are more in tune to their needs for fresh content that is real and engaging. My work with small businesses and artists not only works to grow their audience, but sharpens my skills while building community and expanding our collective reach.

I offer packages to small businesses and artists that operate within a broad range of budgets that allow them to buy a block of time and use it when and how they want over a year to keep their content fresh.

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?

Three things that have impacted my career the most would have to be:

– Persistence. When people said discouraging things or were extremely critical early on, I just didn’t listen. I knew that I was doing something that I loved. Whenever people ask “what would you do if the money didn’t matter?” The answer is exactly what I am doing today. I just keep going and working to improve. (Which brings me to the next one.)

– Practice, practice, practice. I’m not sure if it’s just how I’m wired or something else, but I view everything as a practice. I don’t think I’ll ever be done learning. There is no such thing as perfect and there are no do-overs, it’s just a matter of practicing and being open to surprises, sometimes the results are better than I expected.

– I still get excited when I make an image that I love. It feels just as exciting today as it did 16 years ago. I think if I had become bored with it I probably would not have stuck with it. The things I photograph today are way different than when I started, but it still feels like magic. I think that feeling is what keeps me engaged. If I didn’t love this, I couldn’t do it.

One piece of advice I would give to people early in their journey is stop viewing people in your field as competition and start viewing them as your community. I have learned the most from my fellow photographers. Some have been my teachers, while others are classmates, community members, and artists I admire. I love meeting other photographers because no two people see the world exactly the same. There is always room for more and the more people I have in my community, the better. The rising tide lifts all ships.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

There are two things that I always want more of:

The first is to work with more dancers and movers. I’ve spent a large part of my life in dance classrooms and companies. Photographing dancers checks every box for me and it has only been a small part of my creative practice. I love photographing movement so much.

The second is that I would love to find the right companies and brands to work with on product and lifestyle shoots. This is a branch of my business that is just beginning and I would be thrilled to find companies that want to use my photos for their advertising.

People looking to collaborate should email me at: [email protected]

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All Images: Kerry Constantino Photography

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