How do you define beauty in your work, and what elements do you consider essential to achieving it?
I think the most important thing for me recently has been the light and 120mm film. My work is light and airy with a hint of shadow. I like depth in my work and shooting medium format film gives me that. I shoot a pretty even split of digital and medium format when on set but more often than not, film makes up the majority of final selects.
What rituals or routines do you follow when starting a new project? Is there something that always sparks your creativity?
I collect fashion magazines and photo books, (like 90% of other photographers). When a commission comes in and I've seen the initial creative, I scan the pages of everything as well as pinterest and my saved inspiration folder on instagram. Before every shoot, I curate my own mood board, building upon the client's original mood board. Having a direct point of reference for myself and the talent on set is such a useful tool.
If it's a self initiated project the creative spark can come from anywhere, for me, so much inspiration comes from cinema and cinematography.
Is there a specific piece you've created that feels like a perfect reflection of your aesthetic vision? What makes it so special to you?
A few projects as a whole like the 'Fearless flight' story for GQ or the 'In from the cold' story for The Rakish Gent. I creatively directed both of these projects with regular collaborator Sophia Katyea. Both projects turned out nearly exactly as we envisioned but if it were one image, it would be the black-and-white portrait of model Tim Bentley with the single tear (faked by MUA Maeve McElholm). Rarely does an image come out exactly as envisioned in my head. That one did.
When editing photos (or being in any other creative process), do you have a go-to soundtrack or playlist that sets the mood? How does music influence your creative flow?
I work with professional retouchers and will hand over retouch notes from myself and the client/magazine but I colour grade my images myself. I'll do an initial grade on set so the client can see a closer version of the finished image on set, when they review it in Capture One. I'll then fine tune the colour grade at my desk. More often than not when doing this, I'm listening to Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Johnny Hodges.Music on set is obviously really important. I have a Spotify playlist I curated specifically for the job. (linked) It features everything from Elvis Presley, Elmore James, Chet Baker, The Coasters, and Ella Fitzgerald to Haim, Frank Ocean and Harry Styles.
Stewart Brydens Spotify Playlist - “Stew On Set”
What do you think makes a photograph timeless? Is there a common thread that you believe connects iconic images?
I think nostalgia can play a big part in what makes an image feel iconic, especially as distance in time changes how we see it. The strongest photographs communicate a feeling instantly—grief, joy, tension, solitude, defiance. You don’t need context to feel something. That immediacy allows them to resonate across decades.
Who is in the image, who took it, and when it was taken can also shape its impact. Images tied to significant moments in history often gain extra weight, becoming shorthand for that time. However, historical importance alone isn’t enough—without emotional or visual strength, an image is unlikely to endure.
If you look at photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Bailey, Richard Avedon, or Helmut Newton, their work reflects a period when photography was asserting itself more confidently as an art form, not just a documentary tool.
