How Craig found exposure for his talents in competitive world

For years Craig Fleming worked on Sheffield’s roads while dreaming of being a professional photographer snapping the rich and famous. Now that dream is a reality. Catherine Scott reports.

Craig Fleming was just 11-years-old when he bought his first camera.

“It was a Russian SLR mechanical camera and I just loved the whole process of taking photographs,” explains Craig. “I remember my cousin getting a camera and really wanting one myself so I saved up.”

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The two boys would go out in to the countryside and take photographs of nature. It was well before the days of the digital camera and so Craig set up his own darkroom in his bedroom to develop his shots.

“I was fascinated with light and how the camera worked,” he says. “I just loved everything about it.”

Despite being artistic at school, Craig felt under pressure to conform, and so the working- class Sheffield lad followed his classmates into manual labour. For three years he did the hard graft of laying tarmac on the streets of South Yorkshire for Sheffield City Council .

“I didn’t mind the physical side of the job but I just couldn’t get on with the organisation,” says Craig.

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A number of other jobs followed but Craig couldn’t settle. In his spare time he still pursued his love of photography, trying to pull a portfolio together.

“I would do people’s weddings and portraits and then I enrolled on a college course,” he says.

However, Craig’s ambitions seemed destined to be thwarted again. A mix-up with the admissions procedure meant Craig found himself on a course where he was being taught all the basics he already knew.

“I lasted three weeks. They were teaching them about the camera – it’s not about the camera it’s about the light. It was a waste of time.”

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Instead, Craig learnt his craft by poring through piles of photography magazines.

“I’d try to emulate what I saw in those magazines,” he says.

“Then it was mainly about landscapes and if I’m honest at that time I never had any desire to do portraits.

“I loved to go out walking in 
the countryside. Because it 
was the days of film you were 
very careful about the shots 
you took. You couldn’t just fire 
off loads and hope for the 
best.

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“It meant you really learnt the art of photography; it was a real skill. I think I have an aptitude for seeing light and so when digital came along I was already in a good position.

“The problem these days is that anyone can go out and buy a digital camera and say they are a photographer. Shooting a reel of film costs you money and so you have to take time to make sure you get it right.”

Still finding his feet in the industry, Craig began sending off his favourites shots to the magazines he subscribed to.

However, the occasional commission wasn’t yet enough 
to pay the bills. Craig went from job to job until at the age of 34 he decided enough was enough.

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“In my heart I knew I was good enough to make a living as a photographer,” he says. “I didn’t want to waste any more time in dead-end jobs where I wasn’t happy and the work you did wasn’t respected.

“I know a lot of people feel the same way, but it’s having that confidence to leave work.

“There came a point when I decided that I had to take a chance. I never really got any knock backs when I sent off my work so I knew my work was good enough.”

Going it alone, Craig decided to set up his own freelance photography business in his home city of Sheffield and it was then he started to explore opportunities doing portraits and fashion shoots.

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“It was the mid-90s and all I wanted was to get my work published and back then it was all about pretty girls.”

After a number of his photographs in some glossy magazines, Craig was approached by various model agencies to do work for them.

However, he soon realised that fashion photography is a hard way to earn a living and the key to any future success meant he needed to diversify.

“I don’t think it was until my 30s that I really started to understand how to talk to people and learn how to get the best out of them,” he says. “As you get older I just think you get better at dealing with people.

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“I decided I wanted to do a project about the people who work in the theatre. Not just the actors but all the different areas from back stage to lighting.”

The project has not yet come to fruition, but through his contacts he started working for Sheffield Theatres doing their publicity shots and posters.

As a result he got to take photographs of many distinguished celebrities including Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Antony Sher, Sir David Hare, Richard Wilson, and Victoria Wood.

“Photographing celebrities is 
all about being able to communicate with them so that you get the best out of them,” explains Craig. “I really love photographing the older guys. They have really interesting 
faces.

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“Shooting celebrities can be a challenge as you don’t always have very long. I had 30 seconds with Bez from the Happy Mondays and yet we really connected and I was really pleased with the end results.

“If you get on with them and they trust you then that shows in the picture. When it comes down to it, it is all about trust.”

 To date, Craig’s work has been featured in Italian Vogue and he is registered with one of New York’s leading photographic agencies.

Also this year one of his images won the coveted first prize for top UK men’s hair styling brand, the American Crew awards

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Craig knows to expand both his fashion and portrait work he needs to spend more time in London as that’s where the work is. However, he remains committed to Sheffield and has no intention of moving his business.

Aside from commissions, he’s also keen to ensure he has enough time to pursue his own projects as well.

“I have started a project on tattooed girls,” he says. “It has always interested me why some young women want to get a lot of tattoos. A lot of models have had them done and then totally regret it.”

Turning the lens on photography

Of the 14,000 or so photographic companies registered in the UK, around half are individual freelance photographers.

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It is estimated that across the country the photographic industry employs almost 48,000 people.

However, it’s an increasingly competitive business and, between 2005 and 2010, the value of royalties paid for photographs decreased by 80 per cent.

Within the last 10 years, figures show that 52 per cent of photographic businesses have closed.

A report by the British Photographic Council in 
2010 showed that only 
one in five photographers currently working in the UK are female.