Calanan Photography: Transferring editorial skills to advertising

Sheridan and Suzette
Hip and Humble
9th & 9th Neighborhood
Salt Lake City, UT

I first met sisters Sheridan and Suzette at their Salt Lake City boutique, Hip and Humble, during an editorial assignment for Wasatch Woman Magazine about sisterhood (see "Sisters with Style"). Not only was the store an amazing setting with its collection of interesting items and bright colors but Sheridan and Suzette both bubbled with an infectious enthusiasm that made for a fun-filled shoot!

A month or so after that shoot I received a call from Suzette to hire me to return and take more photos for their own advertising. Suzette told me that Delta Sky Magazine wanted to profile their boutique and she thought it would be good to also have an archive of photos to use for future advertising. Seeing as we shot mainly editorial portraits for the Wasatch Woman article, we decided this time to take more photos of the store itself as well as some candids of Sheridan and Suzette at work.

An interesting part of that conversation was hearing that Suzette had a hard time finding photographers who specialised in advertising photography for small businesses. After exhausting the Salt Lake phone book/web searching she decided to ask me if I did that sort of work on the side. Until that time I had not but this really got me thinking about a niche that wasn't being filled. Unfortunately we relocated to Denver not long after and I wasn't able to capitalise on it there but now that we've settled in here in Colorado I'm going to give this another try, as I see an opportunity in this same niche market.

Shh, don't tell my competitors. ;)

Have any other photographers recently shifted their *ahem* focus? I'd love to hear about your experiences, especially any editorial photographs who may be looking to supplement their magazine work with private work as magazines either cut back or close down.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites from the series:

Technical info
Nikon D700 and various lenses

Natural light did most of the heavy lifting in these photos but I also shaped it using Nikon SB-800 and Nikon SB-600 Speedlights for fill and accenting. All Speedlights were triggered with the Nikon D700's pop-up flash using the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS).

Finally, the Wasatch Woman Magazine cover (May/June 2009)