Meet Christopher L Smith

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

Christopher L, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
When I was growing up I was a shy child, so shy it crippled me against trying things. As I grew up I realized, nobody was going to help me fight my demons but myself. England was pretty narrow minded in its thinking when I was growing up – “Know Your Place”… As I progressed through high school, the rebel came out… I wasn’t going to pidgeon-holed, I was going to be something and somebody….

Photography was my outlet, I could be that individual, someone different… People said my photography was good, but nobody wanted to give me any work until I started pushing and developing the confidence to say – my photography is more than good… you want good, ok go get mediocre! You want great – you are looking at it – Me!

Self-esteem comes from confidence… You will always have someone try to knock you down with barbed comments, ignore them and follow your own path, be confident in what you do..

I have followed my own path for over 30 years, I am more confident each day because I continue to learn…

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a wizard that stops time! In short I am a photographer. What am I focused on (great play on words ha!) I suppose I am focused on providing a great service to my clients. Every project is different but I enjoy the challenge of shooting what the client wants and when they are really happy with the final photos, it makes me feel I have achieved success.
My brand is important to me “csfotoimages” is known for quality. I have just finished a big project shooting photographs for a Private multi-million dollar jet center at Tucson International Airport. I pushed the boundaries to get the photos I wanted to provide to the client – something that shouts aviation but different to what everyone has shot.

I also shoot photos for SunTran via an agency – It could be mundane but I enjoy the challenge each and every day.

My new adventure is getting back into small product photography with the help of AI… every day is a learning curve and that’s exciting.

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?
That’s an interesting question. For those who are just starting out in the World of photography:

1 – Specialize and be great at what you do.. Shoot everything until you find a subject that excites you.
You cannot be good at everything and you will get a bad reputation 10x faster than getting a good reputation if you
provide mediocre photos to your client..

2 – Believe in yourself. If you truly want something bad enough, you will do anything to continue on your journey.

3 – Never stop listening or learning. There is always someone out there who knows more than you do… Listen and learn.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
You asked how i would spend my final decade. Well, i would do exactly what i am doing now – shooting photos! I would want to shoot more photos of travel destination, lifestyles and people. I would enjoy photography more for the passion of the subject i have always carried in my heart and spend less time worrying about the next paycheck.. In other words, finish out my life shooting photos for my own satisfaction.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Chris L Smith – csfotoimages

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