We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ethan Pines a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ethan, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
I suppose it’s a combination of terror, finickiness and being a middle child.
1) Terror. I’ve been freelance since 1994 and a full-time photographer since 2003. There is a certain amount of money I need to make every month, and that amount has gone up pretty regularly over the years. We’ve got a mortgage and a child; we bought the land across the street; life in SoCal is expensive in general. (No regrets in any of these areas.) So every month, I live with a bit of terror. Am I making enough to pay my share this month? How about next month? How about the rest of the year and the next decade? Thus far it’s been about about 360 months of mild terror. Terror incentivizes me to be creative. Being creative helps pay the bills and reduce the terror. It’s the virtuous terror cycle.
2) Finickiness. This is not to say that I’m blasé about life, or snobby, or dismissive; quite the opposite. I love life. What I mean here is, when I’m scouting a location or coming up with shoot concepts, for the most part, not much stands out to me. Oh, sure, there are always lots of possibilities. Are any of them truly special? That’s what the annoying voice inside keeps asking. And so I keep looking, and thinking, and experimenting in my head, until I figure out the options that make me happy. Also, there are many good photographers out there, and so many of them are shooting more or less the same thing. I don’t want to be that person. Which leads to item 3:
3) Being a middle child. It’s no secret that middle children — overlooked souls who never got the attention their older and younger siblings did — seek to stand out. I want to create work that’s a bit different, that gets noticed, that has a unique voice.
How else do I keep my creativity alive? I pay attention to media and the visual arts everywhere, whenever and however I can. I think and noodle on ideas; I hike and ruminate on them; I sketch and re-sketch; and over time the brain concocts new options and variations and iterations. I keep notes of my ideas, even in the middle of the night. I think about unexpected juxtapositions. I free myself to be irreverent. I allow my visual ideas to be influenced by non-visual arts, for example, absurdist plays. I pay attention to how others are shooting and try not to simply do the same thing.
Also, who knows where creativity comes from? My mind works a certain way. Others’ work a different way. It’s up to you to figure out how your mind works, how to take advantage of that, what you can create that’s uniquely yours. Just know that it’s there somewhere in you.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a commercial and editorial photographer; the “director” part comes in because I also create motion pieces for clients and for my portfolio, including short films and some unique “animated portraits” that you can find on my website, ethanpines.com. I’m based in Topanga Canyon (just next to L.A.) and have a rep in NYC. My work is a combination of commercial campaigns created with ad agencies; portraits and “culture” images created for companies directly; and portraits for publications around the country. My images are often conceptual and idea-driven, incorporating elements of irreverence, humor, surprise and absurdism. I’ve been shooting regularly for Forbes for the past decade, including about 30 covers, the most famous being the portrait of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes holding a tiny blood vial next to her face.
I came to photography in a roundabout way. I studied English in college and journalism in graduate school, then worked as a writer and copywriter for a number of years until developing debilitating arm and shoulder problems. I promised myself that, if I could get through them, I would find something that got me off the computer and out into the world. Once I recovered fully, I took a random photography course at Santa Monica College. Then another. And then I thought, Hmmm, maybe this is it. I took another 2.5 years of courses there and loved it all. After that I assisted other photographers for a couple of years while I gradually built my portfolio, gained clients and became a full-time shooter. That was about 20 years ago. I still love what I do.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1) Strive to be different. No matter what you do, there will be many competitors out there who also do it well. One thing you can bring to the table that no one else can is your mind, your imagination, your point of view, your voice.
2) Work hard, keep at it, and know when to alter your trajectory. Keep things fresh.
3) Maintain balance. You will never be done with your to-do list. Family, friends, community, real-world experiences, love, presence — these are the most important things. Without them, you just become a mule or a robot, and you start to wonder what it’s all for.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes, please. All my contact info is on my website, ethanpines.com:
1) Actors, models and other talented individuals who bring their own imaginations, personalities and A-games to the project. There is nothing like working with great talent. Without it, the shoot is flat; with it, the shoot comes alive.
2) Set designers and builders; prop stylists; wardrobe stylists. I want to create shoots that feel other-worldly and edge into the surreal, but I don’t have the skills to do it all on my own. Let’s collaborate and create something great for everyone involved.
Contact Info:
- Website: ethanpines.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethanpines/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-pines-59732b6/
Image Credits
Copyright © Ethan Pines
