Craig Stidham started his career as a fashion photographer 15 years ago. A few years later, he added senior portraits to his repertoire. His senior biz started on a rocky note–like most stories of photography businesses, BTW. He started out with seniors by modeling his work after inspiration from Google searches, but he wasn’t really happy with what he was getting. This, of course, impacted his business. So he decided to start shooting creative senior portraits instead!
Read on to hear more about how creative senior portraits helped Craig get his business back to bustling. Thanks for sharing!
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I wasn’t happy with using other photographer’s work for inspiration. At the time, I felt like senior portraits needed to have a certain style in order to have an effective business. I needed my photos to sell. They weren’t my favorite, to be honest. So, I felt like my work was fake–it just wasn’t me. Then, one day it happened. I decided to make a change and start shooting with a different perspective. My perspective. I was going to make creative senior portraits, to treat and shoot seniors just like they were agency models.
I asked my other team members to come to a shoot and help out. A make-up artist, hair stylist and a wardrobe stylist joined me for a normal high school senior session. Keep in mind that using a team did not become widely popular until recently. The lessons I learned by using a team were extremely valuable. Having the flexibility to make changes on set lead to more creative senior portraits, too.
In the past, if you were to tell a senior that you were going to shoot them in a studio setting they would probably cancel. So I had to educate the client that a controlled environment offers a lot of flexibility. I was not interested in sitting in chairs, and would rather burn cheesy backdrops than to see them in my studio. Instead, I used the same tools of the fashion world–just the necessities like using apple boxes for stools and chairs. I have a 35’ square cyclorama wall with 20’ ceilings. By using the same tools, team members, and state of mind my biz was off to a brand new, creative start.
For location work, I changed that as well. At the time, I was taking a small generator out with me for electricity, which in the fashion world was a normal day. The term “off camera flash” really meant you purchased a hot shoe cord that allowed you to move the your speed light to a stroboframe. This was very popular in photojournalism and wedding photography. In fashion photography, we took the entire studio outside and powered it up with generators. It’s been done as far back as I can remember. Old school photographers just called it “bringing in lights.” So in short: For my creative senior portraits, I brought in lights.
With my team, equipment, and a senior for our model, the only thing needed was inspiration. A normal, non-practicing model-client to walk, act, express, and pose like proper agency talent. Turns out, this is where the “real” art happens.
I know my images are not your typical senior images. I also know that I only cater to a low percentage of the senior market–which is totally cool. I am only getting the seniors who are truly fashion forward, and who seek creative senior portraits. I embrace my creative style. To keep it simple, I am shooting images that trip my trigger and make me enjoy every day.
My words of advice–shoot happy. It’s really the best option for success in any market.
If you’d like to see more of Craig’s creative senior portraits, visit his site here.
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Amen. Over the winter I started shooting what and how I wanted my vision to be, not worrying about how others were shooting. The more I do it, the more I attract the work I want to do, and bizarrely the more work comes in the door. I’m also a lot happier with my work, barring the periods of complete angst when I invariably compare my work to that of the masters
Love this that’s what I’m trying to do stand out the box
I don’t see any relevance to seniors. I can see he is satisfying his vision for creative photography. Although his visions do not work for me, his creative capability is formidable however and perhaps that is what he is trying to show with his works. So Ali9enskin has a cameo of this work; what is the tie in here? I do not want to see some photography that I do not appreciate unless it is showing me how the sponsor’s products are employed to help the photographer achieve his images. So in the future perhaps Mr. Beech will do something that actually has merit when he puts this vision of his own in front of us.
Very interesting. I guess a lot of us are a few steps away from the realization that we can create images with regular Joes or Jills, which have about them the look and feel of something grand. Thanks for the insight.
What is the meaning of the word “senior” in this context? I was thinking you were going to be shooting seniors as in, to be blunt, older people. I think that possibly a translation for the international market is required.
“Senior” as in high school students in their last year of study before collage. Sorry for the confusion, Robin.
Great work, btw! Love what I saw on your website.
Your pix are beautiful but I didn’t, see one “senior” model ?.?
Craig assures me that the models in these shots are of artistic, fashion-forward high school seniors. Crazy, huh?
Creative look that I haven’t seen in senior pictures, The pictures back up his comments.
I can see that this style is not for everyone, but I can tell its something that Craig believes in and he made it happen. I am hoping to do similarly with my photography. Thanks for sharing. It was timely and encouraging. Cheers, Justin in San Antonio.
Stiffness in the models, the poses, props, and clothing make for unnatural results. Any girl can model because it is easy to make one’s face look blank and completely dissociated. It requires no skill at all. What on earth do you mean by ‘senior’? A graduate or old person? Please be clear about the subject and explain why you chose a monochromatic color scheme?
Hi Karehn,
I couldn’t disagree with you more. I shoot with models all of the time, so I will be the first person to say that it’s an art in itself. It’s a skill that people completely overlook. When you work with talent (and pay them) you expect a certain level of photo from the shoot–so you’re more than willing to pay more for a better model. It saves you a heck of a lot of time in posing and coaching. A proper model can basically do what they want and it looks amazing. They know their best angles and how to use them.
Craig’s photos in this article demonstrate his overwhelming sense of patience to work with those oblivious to what makes a good model. Hats off to him to pull it off so nicely.
‘Senior’ in this context refers to high school senior.
I believe that your comment about the B&W photo was directed at Craig. I’ll ask him for you.
Hi Karehn,
I just got off the phone with Craig. He is a big fan of B&W–it has more mood than color, in his eyes. His long history of shooting with film, and he views monochrome shots as having more artistic latitude.
Hope that helps! ;-)
Hey I was wondering if you could help me csohoe a dslr for shooting big ten football games. I would need good fps and good detail in the pictures. There will also be some night games so also good with med-low light.Any help would be great.Thanks
I’d check out the selections at B&H. They’re going to be the best people to talk with about that kind of specialized shooting. I would imagine that you’ll need some hefty lights to fill a sizable field.