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Beyond Popcorn Website Design

A responsive website design from concept to completion for a full-service movie theater.

Enough already! Let's work together!

I’ve seen a lot of peers talking about strugglin

I’ve seen a lot of peers talking about struggling creatively right now, and I’ve been feeling a similar block on my end, too. I think it’s mostly exhaustion, but I’ve had several shoots where I’ve felt like the least creative human alive. I don’t yet know how to avoid these pitfalls, but a part of me thinks that there’s no level of accomplishment in which you don’t struggle. So when you do feel discouraged, just know it’s a part of the process, and not a sign that you’re in the wrong job.

Part of the definition of our work is that we’re doing things that haven’t been done yet, and there is no roadmap. A key theme I’ve been reading about in “The Practice” is that creativity doesn’t repeat itself—It can’t. So if you’re doing creative work the right way it’s almost necessary to feel a little unsure about yourself as you go. It’s why it’s so important to love the process of creating, because there is no way to predict the outcome.

I’m working on making peace with that, but it takes a lot of mindset work, and it’s not my first reaction. But I do know that creative work is a wonderful thing that we get to do for other people. So maybe one day I’ll be less hard on myself, but until then, I’m just going to keep reminding myself what a joy it is for everyone around us when we make art, and that is enough.

Creativity is a choice, it’s not a bolt of light

Creativity is a choice, it’s not a bolt of lightning from somewhere else.

- Seth Godin, The Practice

Don’t evaluate your creative success based on so

Don’t evaluate your creative success based on societal pressure to do more ✨

I’m working on constantly reminding myself that creative work isn’t about a certain volume of output. It’s easy to get frustrated with yourself for not producing what you perceive to be “enough” work, especially in today’s culture. My progress with my personal goals feels so slow right now due to a few big business projects that I said yes to at the beginning of the year (more on that some other time.)

But then I have to step back and ask myself: why do I feel pressure to have more “great” images to share via social, when what I really want IS the work that I have right now? It’s bigger clients, long-term projects, writing education programs, and other things that are just too big to fit in an Instagram square on the fly. That is the work I want, so why do I feel guilty for not having enough of the other images?

You probably feel that, too. So here’s a reminder to not let an outcome-based culture dictate your art and how you feel about it. Go make beautiful things, take more time on them, keep things precious and to yourself for a while if it helps your process, separate your success from outcomes, and know that more is not always “better.”

Have you ever wanted to be perceived as something

Have you ever wanted to be perceived as something that wasn’t an actual fit for your personality? Or tried to come across in a way that wasn’t authentic to you, either in your creative work or in your life in general?

I think a lot of us at some point in time have dealt with this, both as we’ve grown up with different social groups and as we’ve grown as creatives. It’s a huge obstacle to good creative work, and to successful business. Because when you’re trying to sound like something that you’re not you lack focus, and you come across a little odd to those who see your work. It’s not convincing.

This is why it’s SO important to invest time in branding as creatives, and important to take time to develop your own style. It’s a time-consuming, mentally demanding thing that requires you to get deep in some work to sort through it all. It’s why I’m such an advocate of letting yourself be a student of creative work, because you have to take a lot in and put a lot out to get clarity around what kind of work you want to create and who you want to create for. It’s impossible to have these answers until you know what your options are.

Branding always comes up as a big question when I do q+as with you guys, so I’d love to have more of a discussion below. What big questions are you stuck on with this and what are you doing to grow your own style?

Every time I see rhubarb at the store I feel a nee

Every time I see rhubarb at the store I feel a need to both hoard all of it and tell everyone else in the store that they have rhubarb, ya know?

In other news, today’s blog post dives deep into my top tips for minimalist food styling. Grab it in my bio!

https://moriahbrooke.com/better-minimalist-food-photography/

I’ve gotten a lot of questions in our Q+As regar

I’ve gotten a lot of questions in our Q+As regarding artificial light and if it’s worth investing time into. My answer is a wholehearted yes, especially if you are wanting to work in the commercial/restaurant world. You WILL need it at some point, and it’s also useful for better work in general, especially with movement shots.

To demonstrate, I did a side by side of a dusting shot. The first two are shot with 1 speedlight with an umbrella modifier and a diffuser between the scene. (ISO 125 F8 1/160)

The last shot is the best I could do using the natural light available without underexposing (cloudy morning light with an ISO of 3200 F4 1/400)

It was super easy to replicate the soft natural light almost exactly, but also allowed me to get a crystal clear sugar dusting with zero grain.

Have you ventured into learning artificial light yet?

Stock Licenses to a selection of Moriah’s Images are exclusively available at The Picture Pantry.

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