MIND SWELL

Welcome to Mind Swell.

A dive into the minds of creatives

that use the natural environment as their canvas.

MIND SWELL x Morgan Maassen

Morgan Maassen is photographer, filmmaker, director, entrepreneur…. the list is extensive. His work has been published in the pages of National Geographic and New York Times, while balancing clients such as Apple and Facebook. Although what may be surprising is Morgan chooses to keep 90% of the work he creates to himself. I sat down with Morgan to discover where his creativity is conceived.

Between working with world-class surfers, directing grand scale commercial ventures and running a successful café/gallery (Breakfast Culture Club), you are one busy human. How do you handle pressure and what keeps you grounded?  

I love pressure. I love the sound of deadlines as they go whizzing by, haha. I like to be overly-laden with tasks that I can never complete, because in the stress and struggle to balance them out and complete as many as possible, I find my energy and creativity. Balancing that with complete solitude, like when surfing alone, hiking, sailing.... that both creates an even more insane time-crunch, but also gives me so much clarity on how to focus.

Is validation something you seek in your work or does that destroy true creativity?

I don't seek for any validation, from anyone. To be honest, 90% of the work I create, I keep to myself. What I do share is either work for clients or work that brings me joy. But I reason that when I start trying to find validation for my creative pursuits from other people, is when they will no longer belong to me. 

In a world filled with instant gratification and idealistic tendencies, doing something for genuine enjoyment and expression of individualism sometimes gets forgotten. How important is it to have hobbies and interests that are done for just that; enjoyment and self-expression?  

I think creativity feeds off individualism, and individualism is grown and refined in solitude. Having interests or passions that are open and broadcast will only allow external entities to use them to further sway one's artistry, their soul.

When on a shoot do you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve or do you take a more free flowing approach?  

Every shoot is different. Shoot shoots, I am spending days trying to capture one particular photo, waiting for the perfect moment. Other times, I spend a whole week uninspired, and then have a 15-minute moment of perfect conditions and unchecked motivation. But mostly, I plan to "build a house" and capture images that cover all needs, from telling a story to being incredibly experimental. 

As a surf photographer the line separating work from play can become blurred at times. How do you balance keeping the fire stoked and the bills at bay?

I've surfed my whole life, and while its easily my favourite sport and oldest passion, I still think shooting with cameras in the ocean is slightly more fun. Shooting surfing melds passions of photography/filmmaking and surfing, and maybe just slightly more than snowboarding, allows athleticism, environment, and art to merge into one.

If you could take one last photo, what would it be?

To be amongst the baobab trees in Madagascar, that would be my dream.

To dive deeper into the way Morgan views the world, his work can be found at: morganmaassen.com or @morganmaassen