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

Sharisse, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Earning a living from my creative work has been (and still is) a work in progress. For me, as with so many others, photography started as a hobby. I wanted to learn how to capture great photos of my own travels. My grandmother bought me my first Canon film SLR and I just started out shooting what I saw. I had no training or designs of making money so there was no pressure.

When I moved to San Diego in 2006 I got involved in the local music scene and began shooting live concerts. First for free, and then paid. That was a pivotal stage of the learning process for me because it’s an unforgiving low-light environment. I couldn’t control what the lights were doing, whether my subjects stayed well lit or be able to pose them. And once people started paying me I felt the pressure of their expectations. So I watched. I learned to anticipate their movements, to see when they would be still for a second in front of the mic and I knew I could get them in focus, or when they would look to other bandmates on stage. I was always looking for one magical moment. And I made a ton of mistakes. Learning how to correct those mistakes was the single most valuable lesson for me. And as I learned I became more consistent.

One thing I wish I’d realized sooner was that we all have a style of our own, one that can be captured on whatever gear we have access to. Even when there were many photographers shooting side by side, ranging from hobbyist to pro, when we’d all post our images, we captured such different images. That was how I started to lean into my own style and to stop worrying about how anyone else was shooting or what gear they were using.

Artists began hiring me to shoot promos and album covers and I began learning to pose models and plan out my shoots with even more consistency. This helped me upgrade my gear and led me to start shooting music videos. While music was my preferred genre, I continued to try out others—weddings, events, portraiture, and family photos. Everything I shot taught me something new. I think that the commitment to learning is ultimately what allowed me, when the pandemic hit, to transition my photography business into creative composites and portraiture rather than collapse when live events and music were shut down indefinitely.

Through my experiments in Photoshop I learned to take elements of different images and combine them into new and magical worlds. It was an extension of what I did with album covers, but adapted and refined by the necessity to create new environments without the ability to travel. I started a series of magical school photos for kids that weren’t able to attend class in person. Instead of a traditional portrait I asked them what they loved, what their hobbies were, and incorporated those elements into the final image. The idea was to create a snapshot of their imaginations at that age, rather than simply what they looked like.

I have been able to expand my new style into fine art newborn photos, maternity shots, creative portraits, book and album covers. Creative work, as with life itself, requires constant learning and adaptation. In my experience, leaning into that rather than fighting it is the key to maintaining both creative and income flow.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I consider myself a storyteller—a photographer, filmmaker (and the author of two novels)—using whatever medium best suits the story at hand. I love shooting outdoors in natural light, using bright colors, and creating art with a message. My work is all about capturing things as they are, never veering away from difficult topics, always keeping a bit of whimsy. The self-portraiture I do tends to explore more of society’s and my own shadow side, while my commissioned work is dictated by my client’s chosen themes. In all shoots I ask my clients to give me three emotions they want to elicit through the work. This helps me to understand what is most important to them and how they approach things.

I grew up in Lake Tahoe, skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, and hiking. I went to college in Paris and then Australia and have lived on four continents, all of which means that at a young age I developed an expensive travel habit. While I got a master’s degree in Anthropology, I find it most useful in helping me to go into new environments, learn how things work in that space/business/family and then tease out the most foundational elements. This process helps me to personalize every shoot and to focus on the elements that make it unique and beautiful.

My passion is in creating work that empower others. I believe that we are all so much more spectacular than we realize and my goal for every shoot is to elicit my favorite compliment, which is when my client tells me that I captured them the way they see themselves. Whether it’s a creative composite or a classic portrait, I want them to feel seen—for the qualities they most value in themselves to be lifted up and reflected back so that they can serve as a reminder on days when that feeling is nowhere to be found. For album and book covers, it’s about capturing the thematic essence in a single image in order to draw in the perfect readers and listeners to appreciate the work.

Some of my favorite work has come from working with non-profits and kids, especially Rock N Roll Camp for Girls San Diego, which is dedicated to empowering girls through music. The way that kids are open to experimenting is unparalleled and I love capturing it as it happens. They use their imaginations to make sense of the world around them and I relate to that.

All art is subjective and every project unique, but what unites us is that we are all just trying to make sense of the world around us. I do that by delving into and creating fictional worlds that reflect back larger truths. When we open up our imaginations we allow in new possibilities that didn’t exist before. My business is focused on helping individuals and businesses unlock those possibilities, whatever form it takes.

Services offered:
-Creative portraits
-Custom Fine Art
-Book/Album Cover Art
-Special Event Photography
-Music Videos
-Custom Branded Imagery

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Yes! There are so many, actually, but one of my favorite discoveries has been Creative Live. It’s a site that has all sorts of in-depth creative tutorials ranging from photography to design to songwriting and so many other things. Anything airing live is free to watch and most courses are reasonably priced if you want to purchase them to watch later. That is actually where I was introduced to composite photography in the first place. Brooke Shaden’s compositing course gave me the tools to start shooting and editing a whole new type of image, one I have since fallen in love with.

Dedicating time to learning about new techniques and getting a look at how other creatives work has enhanced my own technical and creative skillset immeasurably.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The mission behind everything I do is to empower women through creativity.

While I was raised to believe I could do or become anything in this life, it has taken decades to recognize that, while in theory that is true, the reality is that as a female-identifying member of society, there are so many social blockades put up specifically to slow us down. Society fears women stepping fully into themselves and that fear can take many harmful forms, ranging from the annoying to the life-threatening.

The self-doubt, inner-critic and internalized misogyny are unavoidable and extremely harmful. And baseless. Not just for women, but for everyone. In my opinion, society as a whole is best served by everyone being granted permission to be their fullest, weirdest, smartest, most wonderful selves. Don’t hold back!

If by capturing the beauty already there, I can help grant permission for others to see the beauty in themselves, then maybe, little by little, we can achieve a kinder, fuller, more authentic society that asks how we can lift others up rather than keeping them down.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sharissecoulter.com
• Instagram: @SharisseCoulter

Image Credits
Sharisse Coulter Photography