Portrait photographer Craig Fleming has spent decades navigating the space between film and digital, celebrity commissions and working-class subjects, polish and truth. In episode 175 of the Nerdy Photographer Podcast, Craig joined Casey for a wide-ranging conversation about his process, his philosophy, and two ongoing personal projects — Quiet Men and Circus — that are reshaping how he thinks about legacy and the purpose of his work.
The Film vs. Digital Question
Craig is known for always shooting a few rolls of film alongside every digital commission, but his relationship with analog goes deeper than habit. He returned to medium format film several years ago to “put some integrity back” into his work — and says shooting film made him a better digital photographer by teaching him to do far less in post. He now shoots on a Fujifilm GFX 50S, which he describes as producing the most analog-looking digital files he’s ever seen, often fooling followers on Instagram into debating which film stock was used.
A Hard No on AI
Craig didn’t mince words about generative AI: “I hate it.” Beyond the environmental cost and the theft of photographers’ uploaded work, he sees AI imagery as fundamentally hollow — made without soul, and increasingly obvious to a trained eye. He does, however, think the rise of AI could ultimately raise the value of authentic photography, particularly film work where a negative exists as undeniable proof of a human being present in the moment.
The Circus Project
What started as a bored afternoon looking for street portrait subjects in Sheffield turned into a four-year documentary relationship with a traveling Ukrainian and Russian circus. Craig has photographed everyone — performers, electricians, popcorn sellers — building trust across a language barrier using nothing but simple gestures and a waist-level viewfinder. Shooting on Tri-X, the images have a timelessness he describes as one of his core obsessions: portraits that could have been made at any point in the last 60 years.
The Quiet Men Project
Quiet Men grew out of Craig’s Apples project when a friend noticed the power of a working man’s hands. It’s a portrait series dedicated to middle-aged men who live without social media, who go to work, come home, walk the dog, and never do anything for likes. For Craig, raised in Sheffield’s working-class brewery quarter, these are his people, and photographing them feels like an act of preservation as much as art.
What Makes a Great Portrait
When asked what’s required to make a great portrait that has nothing to do with gear, Craig didn’t hesitate: “Connection. 95% connection.” He finds common ground quickly — dogs, Netflix, football — and deliberately avoids putting subjects on a pedestal. He’d rather photograph a local mechanic than an A-lister, not because the work is different, but because the human interaction usually is.
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About My Guest
“Portrait photographer. Stuck in the mid 20th Century.”
You can find Craig’s workshops — in London, Rotterdam, and Venice — at craigfleming.net, and follow his ongoing projects on Instagram at @craigflemingphoto.
