Chuck St. John Photography

Chuck St. John Photography

Photography [Birmingham, AL]

Chuck St. John, was born in San Francisco and followed his nation trotting parents all over the US going to 8 different schools before graduating from high school in Penfield, New York (it's upstate ...go look it up). After a stint as a F-4 Phantom jet fighter mechanic in the Air Force (again, the U.S.), he went to (and graduated from) the University of South Florida in Tampa FL with a degree in Psychology. He swears he doesn' t use it on his friends!

After college, he worked in the corporate world and picked up a camera just for fun never realizing where it would lead. Meeting a sympathetic talent agent in Miami Beach led to shooting models and getting more work to the point where staying corporate just wasn't an option. So, with no clients and no money, he quit his "day job" and started shooting for money ... what of it there was. Chuck's dad once told him, "It's better to be lucky than good." Getting a big retail client on the first call he ever made sure qualifies. The other stroke of good luck was aligning with good people with faith in him and learning from them all to the benefit of all.

Here is what he says about all this:

"I don't have a philosophy about what I do that departs from the clients need to solve a problem and to sell a product. I think that If I worry too much about art, then the message might get lost in my own interpretation of an art director's or a clients need to showcase what they are selling. However, that does not mean that I shouldn't try to put my own spin on it. You can use an interesting visual style to assist in making your point more compelling.

As mercenary as this might sound, it really isn't. There are those that think that this is all about the photographer. I don't. It's all about a collaborative effort to make a point."

Chuck is married to Elaine, a physician at UAB and lives in Vestavia Hills. They have two kids (one at Vestavia High School and the other at UAB), three horses, two dogs, a cat, a bird and numerous fish.