Creatively, I’ve been hiding out.

I’m figuring out what still fits and what clearly does not.
I’m grieving dead dreams and designing new ones.
I’m reconsidering my output, and even facing how I feel about monetizing my work. 

I was in the mood for a new project, and I really needed to know what it’s like in a recording studio.

 

What does the room smell like? How does the mood feel? The lighting.
The collaboration and communication between a musician and an audio engineer.
The mood. Is it fun? Is it hostile? Is it both? 

Then I ran into Ryan, and I asked if I could tag along to observe the next time he found himself recording music.
As luck would have it, he had studio time 3 weeks later.

 

I moved quietly around the room and had no intention of speaking up.
I was fully prepared to be wallpaper.

A previous version of me liked that.
It is safer.
I am fully aware of how I hide behind my camera.

I also used to get nervous about telling other creatives what I think about their work.
Now I realize, they’re asking because they value my input. It’s a compliment.
It’s also important for an artist to be able to critique, and be critiqued.

Multiple times, the room asked me for my thoughts and I am proud to say I responded honestly.
It felt really good to be included.

 

Ryan Hoffman and Amy Linette started performing together in 2016.
For the first 4 years, they were in a band with two other members. 

Lately, it’s been primarily just the two of them working together to put out new tunes.
You should check out their work on Spotify. 

 

There is a harmony between Ryan and Amy.
You can tell that they’ve been doing this for a long time.

There is a comfort and an ease in their responses for questions that might be hard for a musician to have the answers to.
There is a mutual trust and respect.
It feels like they know what one another is capable of, creatively. 

Amy’s expression would change when Ryan would get it right in the fifth take versus the first four. Her ears just knew. 

 

I listened along with an uneducated set of ears while tiptoeing around equipment and taking photos. 

And that’s also a way I get deep into my imagination.
Movement + music + taking photos sends me to my “soul” place. My safe space. 

 

I’d be lost inside of Ryan’s guitar when suddenly I’d snap back to earth and he would tell Nate something had gone wrong and he wanted to try again.
I agreed, something did sound off, hence I fell from space.
Then the next time it wrapped without me falling…and I, the oblivious listener knew the difference based on the feel.

I wonder if that’s how it feels to the musician, too? 

 

I really enjoyed watching Nate work.

I studied his confidence while sharing his professional and personal opinion, on something as delicate as somebody’s artwork. It came off so naturally, and it was direct and never brutal.

That’s so hard to do. and so cool.

He was incredibly kind to me, considerate of my shots, the lighting, etc. 
He’s also a musician and has worked at the studio since the early 2000s.
 

All of these images are digital and shot with ambient light.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past 6 months out shooting film and inside of a darkroom.

When I picked up my DSLR again for the first time, I found myself no longer running from low light and grain, and instead leaning into it.

 

Thank you so much to Amy, Ryan, and Nate.

This was such a cool experience, and I learned so much.
It nurtured my soul, fostered creativity, and helped me find more confidence.