I had the wonderful honor of being chosen as this month’s featured photographer for Fine Art Children’s Photography. This is a wonderful website and a great resource of tutorials and information geared specifically to children’s photography. I highly recommend them.
This months featured photographer is Caroline Rutland of Caroline Rutland Photography in Nashville, TN
Not only does Caroline have an amazing portfolio she also devotes a lot of time helping other photographers in their journey. Take a moment and get inspired!
Tell us a bit about yourself & how you got started in photography?
I graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelors in Industrial Technology with an option in Graphics. I focused on things like package design, mechanical and assembly schematics, AutoCAD, 3D & architectural rendering, product photography & film development (It was still film based then. My age is hanging out there!). I dabbled in Photography in college but I was too broke to really get far into it. My Dad was really into it however, and we had a darkroom in our house when I was really young. It was his old Nikon I learned on in college. When I graduated collage I worked for various architectural firms and engineering companies etc… I did marketing and ad layouts, photographed and produced product catalogs, things like that.
Later, when I moved to Nashville, I got a part time job and started my own web development and graphic design firm and for the next 10 years or so. By this time digital photography was really taking off. I would take images for local businesses to use in their ads and sometimes if I couldn’t find a stock photo I needed I create one myself, but it was wasn’t fancy or artistic. I remember one time a client kept putting off giving me an image of a building I needed to complete their website because they were waiting for their new sign to be installed. I needed to get paid, so finally I threw up my hands and I went out, took a picture of their building and added the signage in Photoshop so I could get the project done. My client called and said, “How did you do that?!” I learned anything and everything I could to service my clients and get jobs.
How did you learn photography & compositing?
I got my first digital DSLR when my oldest daughter was born and I fell in love with the new digital image technology! It was so much easier than film and that is when I really started working on my photography skills. I had learned Photoshop and basic image editing already. In essence, I learned Photoshop long before I learned photography.
Once I had children I let the design business go and focused solely on being a Mom. I was still learning photography but it was more from the role of family historian and hobbyist. I would get my creative graphic design fix making digital scrapbooks for my family etc… Then one day I was on the internet looking up info on posing and I ran across a blog were a girl, named Sue Bryce, was selling posing reference cards. You could buy her set and it demonstrating different poses for different body types. I remember showing my Mom her posing techniques. We loved them. I followed Sue’s blog for about a year and put her tips into use and then one day she posted that she was going to be on CreativeLive.com. I signed up for Sue’s course and learned SO much. By this time, people had started taking notice of my photography. I was getting requests to photograph weddings and ballroom dance competitions and events. After I watched Sue’s course I saw an ad for Brooke Shaden and I dropped my jaw. Here was a girl using all the techniques and skills I used in graphic design and advertising but she wasn’t doing them for the advertising industry. She was using them to create personal artwork. Whaaaa! Mind Blown! I was like “You can make money doing that?! I didn’t know you could do that! I want to do that!”
I was drawn to conceptual portraiture because, to me, it was a lot like what I had done in advertising but on a more personal level. In advertising my job was to convey a story, idea or emotion about a product or service using graphic design and imagery. Conceptual portraiture it EXACTLY the same thing but now I can offer my skills to portrait clients who want to capture their own personal stories for the sake of pure artistic expression. I am 100% convinced this is going to be the biggest trend in portrait photography since the glamour movement in the 90’s. Up till now, in my personal experience, the only people who could afford this technology were people with big advertising budgets. It was just too expensive to produce. However, that is not the case anymore. Now, through the use of Photoshop and amazing digital DSLRs we can create this for anybody! I have personal goal to get this genre into the marketplace for traditional portrait clients. I remember in one of Sue Bryce’s CreativeLive.com courses someone asked her “If you could photograph anybody in the world, who would it be?” and she said, “The girl next door.” That is EXACTLY how I feel about conceptual portraiture. When I show mothers, teachers and friends what I’m doing now they are so excited by it! What mother wouldn’t love to have a beautiful portrait of her child as a mermaid?
I am so excited about the opportunities this genre is going to create for photographers. This is the jolt of energy this photography industry has been needing.
Tell us about your creative process, when conceptualizing ideas for photo shoots do you like to sketch, write etc.?
I use a creative technique I developed when I owned my own design business. The creative process was really painful and stressful for me then. I had to come up with lots of fresh ideas under a deadline. Over time I developed a system I call Firefly sessions. The name came from an interview of a great Jazz drummer by the name of Brian Blade. (I am a huge Jazz fan.) In the interview they asked him “How do you come up with your melodies?” He said they are like fireflies. Melodies light up and you reach out and catch it. I instantly identified with that imagery. I keep a firefly journal and if I am out walking or driving around I will look around for things that might fit a project I am working on. You will know it when you hit it because your heart will start beating fast. It could be a color scheme on a dress or a pair of shoes someone is wearing. You see it and you think, “OH! That would work with that project I am working on.” In my workshop in June I am going to go in depth and teach others’ how I do this.
I love the educational series your working on! Do you have a favorite image in this series? why is it a fave?
The educational series was actually inspired by the Facebook Conceptual Portrait Photography group. They had a monthly challenge on the topic of education. I had been a member for a while but I hadn’t done any of the challenges really and I made a decision that I was GOING to do the next one. So I started looking for fireflies. I googled children and reading and the word literacy came up. I thought about how books come to life and I got an image in my mind of something coming out of a book and the world around was changing into this dream world. I looked over at my youngest daughter hugging her stuffed turtle and thought. OH! She loves sea creatures! I could make her a mermaid. That is so fairytale! So the image evolved and I shot it and entered it into the challenge. That was really the first time I tested how far I could take an image. I knew I had the skills to do it I just had never tried it out like that. I was shocked at how it came out. I loved coming up with ideas on that topic so over time I came up with other images that would fit that series and theme. I have now expanded it to cover different areas of education. Literacy, Math, Science and I just added a fourth, the arts. My favorite image is the mermaid image because it is so personal to me. That image is going to be in our family for generations. I love the idea of that.
Which image challenged you the most? why?
The image that has challenged me the most is a private commission I am working on right now. It has not been released yet. It is portrait that tells the life story of a dear friend of mine. This friend has had an amazing life. I hope to release it in the next few weeks. I am really proud of it. It is the most detailed image I’ve ever done and I had to build it from the ground up. Literally, if there is light post that needs to go in it, I go out and take a stock image of a light post to use. Every single thing in this image is there for a reason. Everything from the billboard signs to the trash on the ground. When you have that many details you have to really plan ahead. You can’t just take any stock image of a light post and cut it out and place it. You have to make sure the lighting and perspective is consistent. Most of my images up to this point have been a composite of 10 images, tops. But this one is going to be 40-50 images. I am creating a world that doesn’t exist but in Photoshop.
What/Who inspires you?
The things that make my heart flutter are the stories of triumph and the resilience of the human spirit. I like to talk about and shine a light on those things. When I see a slogan or a headline that gives me that feeling of triumph I write it down in my firefly journal and begin building an image around it.
What Photoshop tool or trick do you wish you had known about when first starting with your conceptual images?
The thing I wish I’d known when first starting is not Photoshop tools or tricks. It’s business and social media skills. I am still struggling with that. As far as Photoshop is concerned, as long as you have patience and time you can accomplish anything. If you can Google and watch Youtube.com you can figure things out.
What’s your favorite tool/gear for creating? (besides your camera)
My favorite tool, hands down, is my digital tablet. I cannot work without it. I have been using a digital tablet for over 15 years and when I don’t have it I am not a happy artist. If you are not using a digital tablet you are missing out on the best workflow tool ever created!
Tell us about Sharing it Forward.
I have been getting a lot of requests lately for speaking engagements and teaching gigs so I came up with this idea of a blog geared specifically toward sharing forward what I have learned over the years. Everything I know, I learned because someone else shared their knowledge with me and now I am sharing that forward to other artists. Sharing It Forward is not just a tutorial, how-to blog, but a culture. I tell other artists all the time, don’t shut yourself off from other artists. I know a lot of new artists do this because they are afraid they will not come up with their own original ideas. They are afraid other artists will influence them too much and they will be accused of being a copy cat. That is hogwash. Art is an evolution. It always has been. To be inspired is to see something that you love and build upon it. If you shut yourself off from other artists your creative growth will be painful and that pain is so unnecessary. Creativity is fun and it shouldn’t be painful. Every artist I’ve seen shut themselves off, loses momentum and stalls out. Every time. But when artists gather, they witness others accomplishing goals, it lights a fire and keeps us all moving. Being in a artist group is like taking your creative vitamins. You don’t know how much better you will feel until you start taking them.
What are you working on now? what are some of your goals for the future?
I am working on a new product line I plan to roll out over the next few months. I am going to start selling themed backdrops for other photographers to use, who want to offer conceptual photography to their existing portrait clients. There is a big learning curve that comes with this art form. It’s a lot to take in. A lot of photographers don’t have time to learn all the skills necessary to create these things from scratch. By learning just a few skills, they can use my themed backdrops. They will come with simple instructions and lighting diagrams and all you have to do is set up lighting per the diagram, take the image and then cut out your model and place them into the scene. The lighting and everything is all correct as long as you set up your lights per the diagram. There will be a layer in the PS file that will say “Place model here” and I hope it will give photographers a fresh new product they can offer their clients. To make a conceptual portrait from scratch is VERY time consuming. In order to get the price point down, you have to set things up so they are easily repeatable and quick. I am also working on putting together conceptual portrait online educational workshops for those who want to learn to create their own unique backdrops from scratch.
Thank You Caroline for taking the time to share with us. It was great getting to know more about you and your work. Please let us know when your themed backdrops are available as I am sure they will be amazing!
See more work by Caroline:
Keep learning and keep #SharingItForward!
Caroline
Social Media Links: Facebook | Instagram | 500px.com | Google+ | DeviantArt.com | Twitter | Sharing It Forward Blog Updates
Want to join the “Sharing It Forward” community? Register to receive all the stock, blog posts, tutorials, tips and tricks delivered right to your in box so you don’t miss a thing! All community members will receive a free stock pack of Butterflies you can use freely in your conceptual portraits. No restrictions.
Want to contribute? Shoot me an email! rutland.caroline@gmail.com – I’m always looking for like-minded artists who are willing to share what they have learned. If it is something we have not covered before I will share it on this blog, with a link back to your portfolio, website and social media! Up-Coming Workshops & Speaking Engagements: Conceptual Portraiture Workshop | Nashville, TN | June 20-21, 2015
Caroline Rutland Photography- Featured Photographer – Fineartchildphotog.
#SharingItForward 