I’ve never met Brian Smale in person. We’ve corresponded on and off over the last few years via email and on the phone, speaking mostly about the organization he’s affiliated with Editorial Photographers. He’s always been frank about the state of the image-market, and seemingly always on the road to a new gig. His answers within our interview reflect his no-nonsense approach and/or his lack of free time. We appreciated his attention, and think you will too.

Wise Elephant (WE): Why portraits (or people)? how did this become your “line”?

Brian Smale (BS): When I first started assisting, I worked for 2 different food/still life photographers. Both were really good photographers, and were very generous with sharing their knowledge. I learned a lot about lighting, but mostly learned that I didn’t want to shoot still-life.

One guy would fuss over a sprig of parsley for HOURS (while chain-smoking). His lighting was absolutely classic 80’s product: overhead softbox/ fill cards/ black plexiglass tabletop. My eyes would glaze over after about 15 minutes.

The other guy had a very unusual approach: Light it hard, and shoot it fast, while the food still looks good. Everything was shot with a 90mm on an 8×10 camera; practically a fisheye. Rarely more than 6 sheets of film got shot. Eat the props, and get to the pub by 6pm, was usual order of business. Beautiful, fun work, but still not really my cup of tea.

I did eat well though.

The next photographer I worked for, Nigel Dickson, was the one that really opened my eyes. I worked for him for a couple of years, and what I saw & experienced really appealed to me. Nigel shot a wide variety of subject matter (including the occasional still-life shoot), but it was his editorial portraiture that really grabbed me. There was always someone new and interesting to meet.

That pretty much sealed it for me.

WE: Are portraits about 1. the natural face of a person 2. what they do and/or 3. how they should look (stylistically)? All, part or none of the above?

BS: I don’t think that an ‘editorial’ portrait always has to include a person’s face, although if usually helps if that subject’s face is already well known. Generally, an editorial portrait is commissioned because that person has done something of significance. Including something in the picture that matters to the subject is usually good. Occasionally that ‘thing’ can be the most important part of the portrait. What that ’something’ is can vary widely of course, and often there really isn’t any thing or place to work with, and still make a decent picture (so a simple ‘face’ picture is can be the most appropriate). Did that make sense to anyone but me?

There was a great example of a ‘faceless’ portrait in a recent issue of Portfolio magazine. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve forgotten the photographer’s name: The subject was a computer hacker, who most likely didn’t want his face shown. So the photographer wrapped most of his face in an ethernet cable. It was a really good solution.

WE: Does an artist still have to live in NYC, or does it matter anymore where an artist lives?

BS: Ahhh… the ‘regional’ thing. That’s a little hard for me to answer definitively. The photo market is changing so rapidly it’s hard to know for sure what works and why. There are plenty of excellent photographers who don’t live in NYC, and are doing great work for major clients. However, …. if you can afford the rent, I think living in NYC for a while can be really beneficial to most photographers. Or Paris, or London, or Milan, Berlin, Tokyo….

WE: Which of your new works or series is your favorite?

BS: I just shot Howard Schultz at Starbucks, and am quite happy with it. Oh, and I also recently shot Santa Claus. In the off season he runs a pull-tab shop in Alaska. Lovely guy.

WE: How do you define the role of a pro photographer in today’s realm of stock and crowd-sourcing?

BS: What rhymes with desperate?

WE: Who do you know that still shoots film?

BS: Just the second food photographer I worked for. You’ll have to pry his “10-8″ camera from his cold dead fingers.

WE: Will print magazines all migrate/meld into online properties? Is print dead?

BS: I don’t think that print is dead, but it will have to co-exist with electronic versions of itself. Existing print magazines can’t really exist without some sort of an online version. Some online magazines can easily exist without print though, Slate, and Salon for example. I’m sure that there are plenty of others.

Personally, I don’t recall seeing an online version that I prefer to a current print version, but I’m sure that will change as design improves with the technology to display it.

I like to take a newspaper or magazine with me when I walk the dog. I can read it, and then use it to clean up after the mutt. Kind of hard to do that with a computer.

WE: What do you see as the next break-through in photography and/or image-making?

BS: I am under an NDA on this one. Very hush-hush. It’s gonna blow your mind.

WE: How would you define current image/art/commercial culture?

BS: I don’t think I would.

WE: What would you like to see more of in the industry?

BS: Money.

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Learn more about Brian Smale at his website