The Boys Have a Laugh

Creating authenticity though inner-child play

Jan 29, 2021

In the last Satori Stori here, we dove into a specific 3 beat structure of creative exploration.

This time we’re diving into unstructured play space. The art that comes from friends acting like children and just throwing together whatever they have and having a laugh along the way.

We’re gonna look at the fun, kookie, goofy, round-about way that we had a laugh and ended up making art out of it.

Come along and join us after a run to the corner store as we laughably jump into the unknown, share an inspirational TED Talk, and uncover something new that I’ve been in search of for a while.

A Space for Play

One of the things I’ve appreciated more and more about shooting photos in a studio type environment is the creative bubble it seems to form.

Before I ever started shooting photos of people, I was shooting cars. Specifically, vehicles with a story to tell.

For me there was beauty in amplifying the character and charm of a car, I loved the journey of discovering the little details that made that vehicle’s experience unique and finding a way to express that story through photography. It was like playing with Hot-Wheels cars on a much larger scale.

These moments were my moments of zen. I could be out on a fiercely competitive racetrack, off-road in some remote corner of the country, or surrounded by thousands of other interested people and the surroundings would just seem to fade away leaving me with an opportunity to search out and find the best way to blend the protagonist and the environment together.

For a moment it would activate the same emotional feelings I had playing “dealership” as a child for hours on end with my grandmother on a painted play mat.

As I started shooting more people I could see this side of my photography wanting to come out again, that part that wants to find a story in someone and amplify it.

However, with new inspiration comes new challenges.

A car, no matter how fast, was always happily content with me moving around and finding the angle that could get what I was looking for, and it didn’t have a reaction to my vulnerability in searching for creative inspiration.

With people, it’s not a single player game, but a cooperative experience.

creating a play space

Let’s look at that game of “dealership”, my grandmother and I used to play.

We would take out a play mat and dump all of my miniature cars on the ground for each of us to pick our favorite. Within the confines of the mat, my child mind would come up with any sort of scenario for us to play around with. There was a bubble for the outside world to suspend and for a new reality to form and play in.

The resulting images are from a similar mentality. Creating a play space for new rules to form and yes-anding whatever wild idea comes next.

We started with the same space as the last photoshoot, but instead of going down a path of Joy, Self-Love, and Connection, we went down a rabbit hole of uninhibited play.

turning a studio photography session on it’s side

As a photographer, I’ve found myself in patterns of the same type of art. There’s a familiarity and comfort to doing something you already know.

A safety in not having to jump off into the unknown again creatively.

Welp, during this photoshoot, my dude pushed me back into the unknown again as we laughably searched for new color palates and ideas together.

Jumping into the Creative Unknown

One thing I am aiming to communicate more this year with Satori Stori are the thoughts running through my head while I’m shooting photos or playing creatively.

It might be easy to assume that as a photographer I would be constantly thinking about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, composition, flash intensity, light diffusion, color gels or any number of the technical aspects of photography.

Sure these elements might be on my mind, but at this point they’re more of a background process. They’re less of a focus and more of a resource I can quickly tap in and out of.

For me when I’m shooting photos, particularly in a studio setting, I’m looking for intangible details and noticing patterns in how all the equipment and people are playing within the creative bubble.

With our first shots down and a space warmed up for play, he asked what we should do next. I suggested we pivot to a green color light.

In the past few months of using this studio flash setup, green has been an elusive color for me. No matter how many times I would switch out the color gels to green. It would always seem to show up in unexpected ways. But NOT green.

He laughed as we started changing out the colors in the flashes, curious what might appear next.

This time, for the first time, it showed up as green. Not teal. Not blue. GREEN.

For me, this was completely uncharted waters.

Jumping back into the unknown.

We jumped into this unknown with a sense of discovery and wonder in playing with lights and emotions to make fun out of it. A space to try something new. Throw ideas around just for the sake of seeing what would happen next.

Each time we would see an image on the monitor from the last shot we would find a new adventure to go down. Conversely in this unstructured play time, we would also allow whatever version of us wanted to come out and play.

We were having fun and being playfully creative, but more importantly there was also a safe space for authenticity to form at this point.

These moments are the ones I really love. It brings me back to that feeling of shooting cars. When the world seems to fade away and I’m left with an opportunity to highlight an aspect of someone’s character and amplify who they are.

Capturing a TED Talk

Now this photo shoot felt like we were getting somewhere. A rhythm was developing between each of us and the space that we were in.

With my camera back in hand we then started to discover what we were really there for.

You see, my friend is known for a lot of amazing traits, but one that I’ve always been interested in highlighting more was his immense care and compassion for others. In our experiences together I’ve appreciated his humor and dynamism but what I’ve respected and admired him for is how he continually aims to elevate those around him.

Unprompted, he began telling a story of how he sees his friends.

Less a story of how he sees them, and more about how he sees them viewing themselves. He started talking out loud about his wish that his friends could see themselves for the magnificent radiance that they are. The hope that they would be able to see themselves through the lens that gave them the energy to walk through any door exuberantly and with confidence.

This moment to me felt like we had an opportunity to break through. To find that real genuine magic that makes this guy such a delight to be around and a strong resource for those that look to him.

For those that do know him. They can practically dictate the words coming out of his mouth without being in the room for it.

They can look at the next images that come up and remember the time that he encouraged and applauded their character even if they at that moment weren’t able to do it themselves.

This was the moment in the photoshoot that I felt a similar feeling to when I was doing automotive photography. Where it felt as if the external world started to fade away and I was left in a bubble to play around and highlight what I thought was the story to be told.

Finding the Satori Stori

As I started shooting more photos of people it felt intimidating. Shooting cars, I previously had space and time to bend and mold a narrative out of an inanimate object.

What I didn’t know at the time was that what I was gaining in shooting people was a reward that tasted remarkably sweeter.

All those stories I was photographing and telling through vehicles could never be appreciated by them. Sure others could like the picture or add their own anecdotes to it, but there wasn’t any feed back from the subject itself. It was always a one sided conversation in creation.

The largest hurdle I had to jump over was my own self.

It took me a long time to realize that internally I was fearful that by letting someone else play this photography game with me I wouldn’t get what I wanted.

But, like any game of “dealership”, it’s best played with others.

Satori Stori