Photographer Craig Cutler was born in Michigan and raised in Delaware. He started taking pictures on school field trips in elementary school with the Kodak camera his parents gave him. That camera had a pop-up viewfinder just like the twin lens Rollei that he adores today.
Craig opened his first studio in 1987 at 39 Walker Street in Tribeca—before hotels and restaurants dominated the area. Often not knowing whether he'd make the following month's rent, he remembers a simplicity to that time, going across the street to pick up faxes of layouts before the need for "instantaneous." He was fortunate to shoot for Tiffany & Co. for ten years and once competed against Irving Penn for a Calvin Klein fragrance campaign, to whom he lost miserably (it took him many more years of experience and maturity to understand why). His recent work has included campaigns for Microsoft, eBay and Smirnoff.
03.11.09
A Time Before Instantaneous
If you have a degree in what field is it? I have a degree in graphic design and visual communications.
What was your strangest assignment? There are many... Shooting Martha Stewart in Halloween costumes for her cover was tough. I just got back from Patagonia shooting a dinosaur dig; there were sixty mile per hour constant winds and I was staying in a tent full of sand.
Which photographer would you like to meet? Irving Penn, Jacques Henri Lartigue.
What famous person (living or dead) would you most like to photograph? I don’t care about the famous person aspect. Recently I’ve been shooting teenagers in different points of the world—from Tokyo to Texas.
Aside from your camera and lighting, what item could you not work without? My Varsity fountain pen and sketch paper.
Is there anything you would not digitally retouch? There are many things I would not retouch.
From where do your best ideas originate? Anything that is not photographic. I see things and then I reposition them into completely different things.
How do you overcome a creative block? Sometimes a “creative block” is a good thing. My ideas come in multiples or they do not come at all.
Do you have creative pursuits other than photography? Gardening, restoring my old Porsche, cooking.
What music are you listening to right now? The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Snow Patrol.
What’s your approach to balancing work and life? That is a great question. Getty once said, “You can be good in business or you can be good at family, but you cannot be good at both.”
What’s your favorite quote? “I've put my heart and soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” —Vincent van Gogh
Do you have any advice for people just entering the profession? Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself in to. You will never make it if you are not committed to giving it everything you've got—all the time.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started your career? That it does not get easier. But the day I wake up that I’m not excited to take a picture will be the day I’m done.