We were lucky to catch up with Patrick McPheron recently and have shared our conversation below.

Patrick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

From the moment I could imagine and create things, I did. In grade school I was very much drawn to art class. I would spend my free time drawing houses and spooky things like ghosts. I loved playing pretend with my friends, creating characters and immersing myself in made up worlds. Then as I got older, I was drawn to making music and the visual arts like photography and videography. Now as an adult, I really combine all of those interests into my professional work. I love creating characters and storylines in my photography. Funny, how those things in childhood always show back up.

Patrick, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up, went to school and then worked for a few years in Missouri before I packed my bags and hauled myself to Los Angeles in 2006. Having spent so much time in the Midwest, my little creative brain was hungry for new experience and adventure.

I originally went to school for graphic design, so I started hustling and doing freelance design work. That first year was tough, but I found my groove and things leveled out. Although the design work was paying the bills, I didn’t find it very creatively rewarding. I remember thinking “God, if I am designing dentist ads when I am 50, just kill me now.”

I’ve always had visions, characters and stories in my head and they were screaming to come out. That’s really where I started focusing on photography as my creative outlet. So I got a decent camera and threw myself into it. After a few years of shooting everything and anything I decided it was time to focus on what was in my head and work on my first cohesive narrative-driven body of work.

I started a successful Kickstarter campaign to help fund my first body of work, a sci-fi photo series entitled “Invasion,” which helped me put out a huge immersive exhibition and my first book. Shooting that series was such an incredible learning experience. It really allowed me to hone in on my style as a photographer and it also led to several other rad opportunities including working with the band MUSE.

Currently, I am finishing on my follow up photo series about people’s double lives, writing an “Invasion” television adaption and yeah, I still do some design work here and there… but no dentist ads.

Everything beautiful in my creative life has come from my own personal projects. I see that as a great testament to shooting and exploring the ideas and subjects that interest you… as opposed to following trends or shooting things that you think OTHER people are going to like.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This is easy! The best part of creating for me is knowing you have planned something out and you have the vision of it in your head. Then the day comes and you’re on set, the model is in the wardrobe and the lights come on — and VOILA! The vision that lived in your head moments ago is now a physical scene in front of you. You made that – and now you get to share it with others. That’s beautiful.

Contact Info:

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