Caydie McCumber
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I am a commercial lifestyle, portraiture, and athleisure photographer. ”
I work with ad agencies and brands to create their identity through imagery.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
After studying fine art photography at California College of the Arts, I worked my way up the ranks from lighting assistant and digital tech to photographer. My entire adult life has been 100% dedicated to photography, and my passion of understanding how every brand can use it to elevate their marketing.
How do you stand out in your field?
I believe that I stand out in my field because of my ability to create and capture authentic moments with my talent. I am a people person, and I know what it takes to pull what I need out of my subject. On top of that I am obsessed with lighting, and can create any scenario my clients can imagine.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
Lately I have been completely obsessed with portraiture and what you can get out of a subject when you strip away all of the other elements (i.e. background noise). It is just you, the model, and the lighting. You can create so much depth and emotion with so little, and that has been very rewarding.
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
My style is carefree, but a bit OCD. Clean but raw. I love to play with masculine and feminine, and my work has slightly hidden nods to this throughout. I would love to be the Sally Mann of commercial photography. Sally often showed how real moments can be both beautiful and ugly. Her fine art work has appealed to the masses because it's relatable yet so beautiful that it's untouchable. That is what I'm striving for.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
Right now I would love to focus on portraiture, and ideally I would love to shoot celebrity portraiture. This is a very difficult arena because you typically only have 15 minutes with your subject, which can be too limiting for some people, but I find it to be thrilling. Also, they have been photographed a million times, so creating something different and eye catching is a challenge I would really like to undertake.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
This year I have been up for about 10-15 ad campaigns, and I haven't been able to land any of them. It is certainly the most campaigns I've been up for, but I've also typically been able to land at least 1/3 of the ones I'm up for. Without any real feed back from the potential clients as to why I didn't get the campaigns it's hard to know what I'm not doing, or could be doing better.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
I would love to have somebody who could work on my branding--i.e. graphic design projects. If I could create really exciting promos or newsletters I think that could be helpful.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
I don't regret much if anything. I'm extremely driven, and that has proven to be pretty great for me. I am, however, very impatient...if anything I need to remind myself to be more patient.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
I would love to know more about the art of landing the gig. Though I have a photo rep, and even he is confused as to why we haven't been able to land many jobs this year.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
I would love to work on ad campaigns, social media campaigns, and brand shoots with companies/ad agencies. I would also love to shoot more editorial portraiture.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
My ideal client is someone like Coca-Cola. I would love to shoot a highly produced campaign for a large client like this. On these campaigns you are given the correct budget needed to really create exactly what your client is looking for. To me there is nothing more thrilling than having a vision and the right tools needed to create that vision from scratch.
WHAT IS YOUR HOURLY RATE, RETAINER, OR SALARY RANGE?
This completely depends on the project. My rate is typically set by usage and licensing, as well as a creative rate. Some jobs are more involved than others, and some budgets are larger than others. My goal is always to try to work with clients within their parameters, and I will never agree to a project if I don't feel happy with the rate--if you are unhappy with the rate it's likely you won't put your best work into the project.
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
Email is usually easiest. Phone calls also work well. If you know the budget and can share it that will save us a lot of time. If you can share the scope of the creative that is incredibly helpful. :)
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
I constantly shoot for myself. Concepting new work and producing it keeps me creative and motivated.
This member profile was originally published in December 2019.