We recently sat down with John Mansfield on the Wisdom in the Tangents podcast to share the story of how we completely transformed our careers from shooting over 30 weddings a year to creating surreal set designs for artists, musicians, fashion designers, and more.
The last five years have been a wild ride for David and me.
Back then, we were deep in the wedding and portrait world. We had our own wedding videography team and even a photo booth rental business. At that time, we would’ve told you we were photographers.
Now, we consider ourselves artists.
Today, we design and build immersive sets for every shoot. We take on projects ranging from stage design to editorial photography to music videos. Our work and how we see ourselves has evolved so much.
But that shift didn’t happen overnight. It was a journey.
2020 was the turning point.
After eight years of non-stop weddings, we were already burnt out. When the wedding industry shut down during the chaos of 2020, we had a moment of clarity. This wasn’t the path for us anymore.
We didn’t know what was next, but we knew we had to make a change.
We had just moved into a new studio space and began experimenting with blending photography and set design. We had no idea what we were doing, but it felt exciting. So we went all in and started a personal project we called The 100 Set Project.
We built 100 unique sets and did 100 photo shoots over the course of a year. No clients. No deadlines. Just us creating for the sake of creating.
That project changed everything.
In the podcast episode, we talk openly about burnout, creative identity, and what it takes to build a new path when the old one stops working. We also share tips for creating your own personal project and why it can be the most important thing you do for your creativity.
