Meet Morgan Turner

We recently connected with Morgan Turner and have shared our conversation below.

Morgan, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

Ooh, this is a really important one, and something that I didn’t ever really consider when I started pursuing a career as a creative.
The reality of turning a creative outlet in to something you rely on to pay your bills, is that it can really affect how you feel about it if you’re not careful, and it’s crucial to find ways to keep your creativity alive.
I’ve had to find all sorts of different ways to stimulate or revive my creativity over the years – having faced numerous periods of creative burnout, struggling to ideate concepts for a project, and even so far as questioning if I wanted to continue pursuing photography as a career.

I read a book a couple years ago written by photographer and educator Chase Jarvis, called Creative Calling, that opened my eyes to the spectrum of places in our life that we can exercise our creativity.
It’s easy to get hung up on feeling like unless it’s a specific craft or art form that we’re practicing, or unless we are creating something spectacular, that we’re not exercising our creativity and therefore being creatively stagnant.
But the truth is, we can find ways to stimulate our creativity in all sorts of areas of our lives, in subtle but valuable ways. For regular life stuff, I look for ways I can work some creativity in to things like what I’m cooking for dinner, shuffling my home decor around, what I’m going to wear that day, or helping my friends & other creatives with their projects or business ideas… the list goes on. We can find ways to add a little creativity in to our lives pretty much anywhere we look.
That said, one of the most significant things that has helped, is giving myself permission to just play and experiment again… to make weird artsy photos and snaps of daily life that have no value other than having made an image. After all, that’s what drew me to photography in the first place – using this light-gathering device to share how I see the world.

Back in 2021 I was having a really hard time creatively. Somehow I had gotten in to the headspace that it wasn’t worth shooting a photo unless it was a saleable image – that there was no point in creating unless it had a monetary value.
My cameras had become solely for work, not for creative play…
Having this realization was pretty staggering. I felt like I had sold out my creative passion for the pursuit of money, and this moment of clarity is what spawned the sentiment above. I needed to find a way to separate my work and play, so that my play could fuel more creative work.
It honestly took me months to figure out a solution, but the solution I finally came up with was simple – I bought a totally different camera that offered a completely different tactile interface that I’d only use adapted manual vintage lenses with, and then set the rule that it was solely for creating fun art and capturing daily life.
I’d use the built-in film simulations, so there was no additional editing work to be done, as if I was back in the days of shooting film – like when I was first learning photography.
A separate creative tool that was uninhibited by the expectations of making professional work.
I even created a new social media channel for these photos under the moniker “intentionally.unprofessional” to further reinforce that this was my play space.
It was wildly freeing.
I felt like I was discovering photography all over again, all because I had simply given myself permission to.
For people who have turned their creative endeavours in to a career, or are pursuing doing so, I think it is crucially important to give ourselves that permission – to create simply for the joy of it, and to create art that’s different from the stuff we get paid to do.
Have fun with it.
Experiment with it.
Get weird with it.
After all, isn’t that why we started in the first place..?

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

On the personal-life side of things. I’m currently 41, and living in a vibrant mountain city in the East Kootenays of BC, Canada. Bike and board sports make up the majority of my leisure time, and as of mid-2022, I’m part of the late-diagnosed Autism & ADHD club.
That last point didn’t necessarily come as a surprise, but it’s definitely changed some things for me since finding out.
The challenges of being a self-employed neurodivergent person are definitely complex, but having a diagnosis opened up a whole new box of tools for me to explore and work with.

Professionally, I’m a Commercial Photographer with my own studio space, and I have the pleasure of working with a variety of clientele ranging from the local to international level.

Over the years, I’ve developed a pretty broad skill set, which affords me quite a bit of diversity in the range of projects I can take on.
One week, I’ll be shooting some elaborate product shots in my studio for a fitness supplement company, and the next week I’m out hustling through multiple locations shooting marketing & PR images for a Mining & Resource company.
Then the week after that, I’m hitting up 20 different restaurants to shoot an on-location portrait and hero-shot of a limited run hamburger at each spot for advertising a month-long city-wide fundraiser event.
Then back to the studio for a run of headshots for remote-working financial advisors or other professionals.
The variety of work really keeps things interesting, and helps keep my creativity and problem-solving skills sharp.

Learning how to ‘work with’ the people I’m photographing has been the biggest challenge for me over the years.
The technical side of things? No problem – thanks ADHD hyper-focus and ASD information processing.
Being able to make small-talk with strangers and not feel overwhelmed in unfamiliar social settings? Mmmmnope. Thanks ASD…
But, I’ve learned.
I’ve come up with systems and figured out how to work around my challenges, and connect with people – and it’s that connection part that creates the best photos.
I get to have authentic conversations with people, learn about what they do and why, and create photos that let that shine through.

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?

This is kind of a tricky one, because there are so many important things I’ve had to learn and develop over the years to get to where I am now.
But, as an over-simplified list, I’d say that three of the most vital things I’ve had to develop over the years are taking accountability for my own life – this affects everything, learning how to actually run a business – not just hoping to get paid for something I enjoy doing, and that I deserve to have a happy and fulfilling life – haven’t perfected this one yet, but it’s a work in progress.

Taking accountability for my own life is the single most impactful thing I’ve developed over the years, and it touches pretty much every aspect of my life.
This basically boils down to accepting that I have a part to play in everything that I experience in my life, and that how I choose to act, react and/or feel about any of those things is entirely on me. If I’m struggling with something in my business, it’s my responsibility to find a solution and learn how to implement it. If I’m dealing with a frustrating or upsetting situation in my personal or professional life, it’s my responsibility to not let that situation negatively affect anything else in my day and to choose to not let those feelings overrun my mind.
If I’m running in to problems with the people in personal or professional life, it’s my responsibility to improve my communication skills, learn to see other perspectives, and be willing to set or adjust boundaries.
These situations exists regardless of how I choose to let myself feel about them, and problems are much easier to deal with when we have a clear head rather than an emotionally saturated one.
If I make a mistake or face a failure or rejection, it’s my responsibility to accept it as a learning opportunity, make amends with any affected parties if necessary, and make it my mission to do better next time.
Taking accountability for my life is a simple act at its core, but definitely not always an easy thing to do. We have to be willing to be humbled, to forever be open to learning, to apologize with sincerity, to be courageous, and ultimately to simultaneously always hold ourselves to a higher standard while also being compassionate and forgiving toward how we navigate that path.
It’s a mission worth pursuing, and it improves all aspects of our lives.

Learning how to run a business was something that I knew I’d have to do, but I had no idea to what extent that would reach. It’s something that all entrepreneurs are faced with, but that creative types have a few additional layers piled on when it comes to facing impostor syndrome, selling and monetizing something that we initially started out doing as a hobby, and the stigma around being paid fairly for our creativity and work.
Running a business is so much more than just learning how to calculate your cost of doing business for establishing your rates, figuring out your bookkeeping enough that your accountant doesn’t charge you double to fix your mess at tax time, and sending out invoices for the work you’ve done.
I’ve had to learn how to effectively sell the value of what we do, while building a positive emotional connection with our clients that makes them feel good about doing business with us.
I have to do jobs that aren’t my ideal projects, while still offering the same enthusiasm and quality of work that I would on a dream project.
I’ve had to learn to get out of my own way and treat my business as exactly that, a business that has overhead, a minimum monthly revenue, and professional boundaries. It’s taken building the courage to turn down projects and clients that aren’t good fit, being able to effectively explain and rationalize my rates in a way that aren’t just “it’s expensive to do this for a living” or “because that’s what other people are charging”, and truly understanding that the service I provide does actually create substantial benefit for my clients rather than just feeling lucky anyone wants to pay me for what I do.
I’ve really had to face some significant mental hurdles on that path, but the difference it has made is invaluable.

The last point of being deserving of a happy and fulfilling life has been a surprisingly challenging concept to fully embrace.
Of course, we’ll look at that statement and say “Well of course I do! We all deserve to have happy and fulfilling lives!” but in practice, it can be an entirely different story.
I’ve found myself going multiple weeks in a row without any days off because I’ve over-committed my schedule rather than just booking projects further out and allowing myself some personal time to get exercise, enough sleep, and some proper recharge time.
I’ve done jobs for rates that were so low that I wasn’t even making minimum wage by the time the dust settled because I wasn’t confident enough to either sell the value of my work, or just decline the job because it wasn’t worth it.
I’ve even found myself feeling guilty when I did take days off while I had various projects in progress, because I had this gut feeling that I owed my clients every waking hour of my life until their project was delivered.
But, my clients take days off, my client’s businesses charge rates that are set for their sustainability and growth, and my clients and other business I work with schedule their work to allow for reasonable work-life balance.
So there’s absolutely no reason that I shouldn’t be doing the same.
Changing my mindset that I deserve to go biking with my friends on the weekend instead of going to the studio because there’s still work to be done, that I deserve to get paid a profitable rate for my services instead of letting impostor syndrome keep me working for hobbyist fees, and that in order to show up at 100% for my clients I actually need to have recharge time for myself has had a massive positive impact on both my personal and professional life.

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?

I’m always open to collaborative opportunities. Whether it’s getting together with other creatives to work on proof of concept or personal shoots, working with other creatives to contribute to their projects with the skillset I offer, getting involved with organizations whose missions are in alignment with my personal values, or brands whose products and/or services are a good fit for my professional or personal life.
Some of my favourite people to collaborate with are artists, makers, craftspeople, and athletes – people who are passionate about their chosen field. I love getting to use my craft to create impactful imagery that shows the dedication and talent they have in their field. Whether that be a competitive cyclist that needs some badass photos for their sponsors, a musician that needs a new press kit, or a chef who is crafting their own unique culinary creations, I love helping bring their unique presence to a larger audience.

Aside from specific types of people, I am looking for collaborative partnerships with photo equipment companies, as well as outdoor recreation equipment and apparel companies.
On the photo side of things, I’m a total gear nerd and I love learning about new tech and how various equipment can add to my creative process and workflow. I shoot in all sorts of situations and environments, so I’ve had to purchase a ton of various equipment over the years, and I’d love the opportunity to collaborate with some companies on projects that would add value to their brand.
As for outdoor recreation apparel and equipment, it’s sort of a similar theme – I’m big in to cycling, paddle boarding, adventure-moto, snowboarding, hiking, camping, etc, and love to shoot photos of that stuff while I’m out doing those things. I’d love to connect with companies connected to those types of fields, to use my own unique experience and the area I live in, to create mutually beneficial projects

Anyone that’s interested in connecting with me to collaborate or discuss any projects they’re working on, can reach me through my website or my instagram account.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mturnerphoto.com
• Instagram: @mturnerphoto and @intentionally.unprofessional
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mturnerphotodotcom