Today we’d like to introduce you to Zave Smith.

Hi Zave, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

I started noticing the poetry of visual relationships when I was just a boy. Walking to school I became very aware of the ever changing compositions that were created between the trees, the homes, and the sky as I walked by. Creating photographs just came naturally to me.

After the military, when I had to think about how I wanted to spend my life, photography called to me. I ended up in a photography/art program at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

Upon graduation I had to figure out how to earn a living. It came down to becoming a photo-journalist or getting into commercial work. At the time, commercial work seemed like both an easier path and a more lucrative one. I was also drawn by the creative freedom that commercial work offered. I had little interest in covering sports, crime, or fires.
I was both talented and hard working so I was able to find work as an assistant to two great photographers. Scott Witte, who was a corporate location shooter and Tim Waite who was a brilliant fashion photographer. Later, worked as a catalog photographer in Philadelphia.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

My strengths were in composition and lighting. I loved to figure out the most interesting way to light an object. I was not interested in the object per say, just how to light it in a visually compelling way.

After a while, I was bored by the structures of working for others so I struck out on my own shooting still life and food.

Success in commercial photography is dependent on three things. Good interpersonal skills, good client service skills and most importantly, the ability to create unique and compelling photographs.

Advertising is the art of the shiny new object. Can you show a thing, a place, or a person in a way that is both new and compelling? I am pretty good at all three of these skills.
Interpersonal and client service skills can be learned and can last a lifetime. The ability to create shiny new objects? That is very hard and even harder to sustain over a long career. Many photographers, like musicians, fashion designers or actors, have large successes early on that only last a few years. After a while they can be left behind by the next new trend. A few, like myself, have the ability to keep the creative juices flowing and learn how to change with the times while still maintaining their unique voice.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

The commercial arts is an ever changing world. What works, what looks hot one year is totally passé the next. Artists who succeed over the long term have to learn to have a strong voice that cannot be easily duplicated while adjusting to trends in the marketplace. Also, most artists have souls that get easily bored. We are always asking ourselves, what’s next.

When I started Zave Smith Photography, I shot still life and food mainly because the people I originally worked for did that so I had the skills and knew the market. But after ten years of a fairly successful career I got bored and felt that I had hit my creative ceiling. Great still life photographers care about objects, they are collectors, they are mainly introverts who are very detail oriented. I realized that I love people and find their stories interesting. I was fascinated by how human emotion was visually expressed and wanted to explore that in photographs.

I rebranded my practice around lifestyle and portrait photography and those images hit a cord. My business blossomed anew. I was hired to shoot major campaigns for companies like Merck, Shire, Disney, New Orleans tourism, and many others.

You often don’t fully understand how you are perceived by others. One creative director once said to me, “you are the best snapshot photographer in the world”. He was referring to the authentic spontaneity in my photographs. A second creative director told me that they hired me because of how I light people’s eyes. A third told me that it was my use of color that got me the campaign. I’ll take those compliments.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?

I am easily reached. I am the only Zave Smith in the U.S. so a simple google search will lead you to my door. I love to collaborate so reach out with your ideas. I am currently working on two personal projects. The first are video and still portraits of small business owners here in Philadelphia and the second one is also a combined video and still project of portraits of artists, musicians and other members of the creative community. Suggestions for new subjects are always welcome.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zavesmith.com
• Instagram: zave.smith
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063604748552
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zave-smith-photography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@xhilarate3878
• Other: https://www.mybkyd.com

Image Credits

Zave Smith created and gives permission to use all the included images.