Film Weddings & Portraiture
DESTINATION
Wedding Photographer
Charleston, South Carolina
Northern Michigan
home
Weddings, Portraits and Editorial
SMITH
BRIAN
HOWDY
& Welcome
About
Myself, weddings, portraiture - in artful harmony
What you need to know, what I want you to know, and why I chose this life and career as a photographer
I am a former engineer, turned photographer. My photography pursuits originated in a hobby, blossomed into a curiosity, and matured from a desire for a life where work and play felt less divided. After years of trying to satisfy my curiosities as an engineer, I quickly found this feeling, this life less divided, in photography. For that, I am truly grateful. It has been the most rewarding pursuit of my life. I started in weddings and fall more in love with them, for ever-evolving reasons, with every event. Over the years, I have expanded into portraiture and editorial work through my studio - Studio Smith Brian. It all influences one-another, with the common thread of interpreting, understanding, and making art with the people I photograph.
by Brian DSmith
WEDDINGS
Candid,
Authentic
Wedding
Photographs
Destination Wedding Photographer
Charleston, South Carolina and Northern Michigan are where I call home but my work as a wedding photographer takes me all over the world. I love an adventure and will happily travel anywhere to photograph you.
"A little bit pretty, a little bit party"
is how I would describe my wedding photography style. I love the imperfect, chaotic moments of weddings just as much as I do the elegant and arranged. Weddings are meant to be experienced, meant to be enjoyed, and I am there to document it - with a bit of artful direction when the moment calls for it. Anyone can have wedding photographs. I want yours to mean something special, to be treasured, to be relived, to be a family heirloom - documenting you and yours, as you were, in love and life.
I consider myself a film wedding photographer. Most of my work is shot on film - for the colors, for the feeling and for its romantic permanence that I find so poetic - but I utilize both film and digital when each feels right.
No wedding is too big nor too small, no destination too far. All of my favorite wedding experiences have been documenting people, who threw their kind of celebration, with their kind of people, in an environment within which they can thrive. Whoever you are or whatever kind of wedding or elopement you are planning, reach out and let's chat about what your day would look like, experienced and remembered, through compelling photographs. I love what I do and I'd love to share that with you.
Your,
Documentary, Film Wedding Photographer
About Your Wedding
Why Weddings?
Oh, to love what you do...
My life as a Wedding Photographer grew from a chance encounter and an introspective curiosity - when weddings were all I knew in this profession of photography. I made the decision to prioritize a life of travel and passion and to pursue a career that left blurred the lines between work and play. Now I photograph many things, all focusing on people - weddings, portraiture, fashion and commercial - all of it collectively influencing one another.
When it comes to weddings, I love it just as much now - truthfully, even more so - than the day I started. The things I love about documenting weddings are always changing, ever-evolving, but the constant has always been and will always be the people. My clients are wonderful. They are intentional in the ways and means with which they pursue life. Their thoughtful curiosity extends to their decision in choosing a wedding photographer. Whether it be a shared kinship for film, a love for the documentary style with which I approach weddings, or a sincere appreciation for my genuine love for the art form, my clients have made these opportunities as a wedding photographer one of my life's most rewarding pursuits.
Why Film?
Film can be wildly beautiful
My grandfather's old camera from the 1960s, the camera that started this whole journey, can produce images that will blow anything away from a more modern adaptation of a camera. Film can also be wonderfully imperfect. This quality of film is what got me hooked. Life is imperfect. Life, just like weddings and portraiture, can be calm and methodical but in an instant can be chaotic and spontaneous. Film handles these imperfections with such grace that I have come to love these qualities of the medium far beyond those that produce something traditionally beautiful. In this regard, I find that film mimics life. Life's most memorable moments lie in the unexpected, the unscripted and those that challenge our definition of what makes something beautiful.
Cheers to the analog, the intentional, and to the arts.
Long live film
Primarily, I shoot film for the look - for the colors, for the grain, for the way it renders the subtle red undertones in skin. I shoot film because with a single release of the shutter, I trust that I have an image that is 95% the way I want it to be. I photograph all of my portrait and personal work on film. I document my own life on film. For weddings, I shoot 75% or more on film - sometimes entirely so. The beauty in its rendering aside, I find something poetic in the the permanence of film - capturing life's most important moments on a physical medium, that has been around for more than a hundred years, and will continue to outlive the ever-evolving digital landscape. Digital certainly has it's time and place, but I find that subtle limitations are a necessity for creativity. Committing to a particular film stock's color rendering, or its speed and capabilities in low light, requires an active and continuous engagement with, and attentiveness to, the art that you are creating.
PORTRAITURE
Portrait, commercial, boudoir and Family Photographer
Based in Charleston, South Carolina and Northern Michigan
Available Worldwide
Editorial Portraiture
on Film
My pursuits in photography have always centered around people. I started in weddings but quickly fell in love with all things portraiture - both in professional and personal works - and began to explore studio portraiture and fashion photography. These pursuits led me to photograph commercial works, portraits for business owners and creatives, boudoir and fine art. I photograph families and document lives. Each and every one of these pursuits influences the others - both in the ways with which I interact with subjects and in the qualities I value in a portrait or lifestyle photograph. My portraits are intended to be heirlooms, passed down for generations, as a reflection of who you were in that moment in time.
About Your portrait session
I photograph all of my portrait works on film. Film helps me slow down, it helps me be present, and it helps me connect with people - but, most importantly, it is so inspiringly beautiful. From the colors to the grain, to the way it handles complex lighting, film is so integral to my work as a portrait photographer. I utilize medium format, large format, 35mm and instant film - both in studio and on location - to produce works that feel personal and artful. My portrait photographs reflect my editorial style and my love for fashion. I approach my portraits for professionals the same way I do my heirloom portraiture - each an intentional, thoughtful collaboration between subject and photographer. My photographs of families are documentary in nature - focusing less on perfection and more on depicting the often chaotic beauty of your existence. My clients travel to me in Charleston, South Carolina and Northern Michigan and I travel to them in locations all over the world.
Location
&
In Studio
Film Portrait Photography
Portraiture shot on film, anywhere in the world, or in the comforts of the Smith Brian portrait studio in Charleston, SC - Studio Sixty Reid
01 Studio Portraiture
02 Location Portraiture
03 Editorial and Professional
04 Boudoir, Maternity and Fine art
to see galleries of favorite portraits - on location, outdoors and in studio - taken all over the world or in my home portrait studio. Shot, largely, on film my portrait work explores the personal connection that I have with my clients and the joy I have in expressing something so meaningful to myself in the form of something so deeply reflective as one's own portrait. Browse a selection of portraits on this page or see even more works of creative portraiture by browsing the featured faces of the Smith Brian
EDITORIAL
Fashion
&
Commercial
Studio Smith Brian
Commercial and Fashion Portraiture
My work as an editorial, fashion and commercial photographer grew from a desire to slow down, experiment and create. It's an opportunity to build, to take risks, and to embrace the dramatic style of portraiture that I am so naturally drawn to. I photograph editorials both on film and digital, in my Charleston, South Carolina studio, and on location for fashion brands, magazines, and creatives. What started out as personal projects, quickly grew into another avenue of business and, eventually, a brand. I photograph just as many personal projects in a year, sometimes more, as I do paid ones. I believe so strongly in the foundation that this personal work provides - a creativity that I apply to every client's project, just as I would to my own. All of this led to the creation of my fashion and editorial brand,
Oh, yes! We travel
to any part of the country and any part of the world for your editorial project. With a home base and portrait studio in Charleston, SC and Northern Michigan, I take every opportunity I can to travel. A desire to travel and explore was so fundamental in the decision to leave my engineering career behind and pursue photography, that I traveled all over the world in short time after deciding to switch paths. I draw inspiration from these adventures, from new cultures, and from these creative constraints that being so far away from home provide. The portrait studio at Studio Smith Brian is available for smaller projects, but any space can easily be rented for larger scale commercial and editorial work.
About your editorial or fashion project
Fashion and Editorial Portfolio
Commertial, Editorial and Fashion Portraiture for Businesses and Brands
Editorial work is collaborative. It's an opportunity to work with models, creatives, and designers allowing them to express their talents while I hone in on mine. This back and forth, this feeding off of eachother's energy is so instrumental in what I create and in the feelings I have creating it. I utilize 35mm, medium format and large format film, as well as digital, to produce works inspired by my love of vintage goods, the timeless and well crafted, classic Americana, and fashion fashion editorials from the 1950s and 1960s. To learn more about what inspires my photography style, check out my brand concep page Camp Bear Lake, or visit the studio brand website at
