We were lucky to catch up with Natalie Davey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Natalie , appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I think a large part of my learning has to do with my sense of observation and wonder. I learned photography and videography, in addition to writing and music making through constant curiosity, experimentation, and observation. Many of my creative skills have come from this exploration, but I also owe so much to my community. While my academic experience was focused on Environmental Studies, I have also taken a few classes to become intimate with the art of story in any medium, and a technical lighting class to boost my portrait work. At its core, my learning journey has been motivated by my connection to the earth and her communities. I believe in stories as living memory. All of my experiences are influenced by constant, flowing inspirations that have no single fixed beginning and end, and are all interconnected. My learning has been informed by my closest friends and sisters, my emotional experiences, and my relationship to the earth as our mother.

The skills that I believe have been the most useful are being open to feedback, embodying your worth and recognizing yourself as an artist (trusting your eye!), and leaning into community. In relation to the community piece- asking for help or clarification, and even more in-depth mentorship was and still is essential for me. Paving your own creative career path is so difficult. Surround yourself with support, other artists, and creatives that have your back. Reaching out to connect to other people on similar creative life paths has been so important in my journey.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a creative and advocate for the earth telling stories from a place of in-betweens, emotional vulnerability, and intimacy with nature and community. My primary mediums include photography, videography, creative writing, and music making. I am a guitarist and vocalist in a psychedelic indie-folk band. I like to view creativity as a way of moving through the world.

I work with individuals, groups, earth-focused organizations, intentional commercial brands on a variety of projects including:

– Portrait work
– Lifestyle photography sessions
– Photo editing
– Photo essays and blogs
– Writing and editing
– Event photography
– Commercial photography and videography
– Short documentary projects
– Podcasts and Audio projects

Lately, I feel drawn to collaborate with others on documentary style video projects, nature-based portraiture, and eco-feminist storytelling work at the nexus of women’s empowerment, decolonization, and spirituality.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew about pay transparency forums, as well as the power of facebook groups, and other artist contact forums that connect folks in particular niches. These have been very useful resources as a young creative when I have questions I’d like to ask people who have been in the industry longer than I have.

I think ethics in storytelling is super important too and is a journey where inherently the learning and evolving has no end. I think the code of ethics from Photographers without Borders is great starting point for young photographers interested in documentary work. They also have an amazing resources page.

I think there are also some awesome job boards for creatives too. On the Basecamp job board (outdoor industry/environmental focused) there are occasionally part-time creative positions for those creatives looking to supplement their freelance work flow too! There are universities too that have posted some incredible job boards and career resources right on their website.

In my experience, building a strong, supportive community and creating a culture where you can lean on each other is far more valuable than any one specific resource. And the mindset of community as a resource is not quite it either. Community can be a support for locating resources and providing both direct and indirect help, but it’s something that requires your support and efforts too. Mentorship must be consensual, and asking questions should be followed with curiosity. How can you also help them out? It’s important to remember pass on the resources, the knowledge you’ve gained over the years, and help folks that are entering the beginning stages of their career too!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For folks looking to work with creatives and receive creative services but are outside of that sphere themselves, I think it is so important to spend a little time educating yourself on the behind-the-scenes of creative business ownership. And please do this research before arguing with someone about their prices and worth. Creative work is expensive sometimes! But the backend costs are high, there are hours of labor behind the final product, and everyone deserves equitable, livable wages.

Contact Info:

• Website: www. nataliedaveyphoto.com
• Instagram: @natalie’s.musings and photography @amountainlady
• Linkedin: natalie-davey