Into The Spotlight

Evan Ruderman is an outdoor photographer based on the central coast of California. He is a photo assistant for acclaimed adventure photographer Chris Burkard, and travels the world taking photos of surfers, climbers, cyclists and other athletes at the most breathtaking locations on Earth. We talk about Evan's photography journey, the value of working in teams, the experience of turning your passion into a career, preparing for once-in-a-lifetime photo shoots, his most memorable adventures and philosophies around photography.

Mentions:

A new season is here with new goals and potential! Morley and Ryan discuss the projects they've been working on, how they manage their time to create new projects, how they stay motivated, how their creative process has changed over time and how they maintain a fresh perspective.

Mentions:

This week, Morley and Ryan discuss ideas! - How they find us, what makes them compelling, how they change over the course of a project, how we put ourselves in the mindset to be inspired, creating inspirational settings, situations, and our strategies for tracking ideas over time. 

Mentions:

For the first episode of 2022, Morley and Ryan talk about how we adapt to changes in circumstances and expectations, thinking bigger, and embracing ourselves as multi-dimensional creators. We also explore dealing with constructive criticism, accepting the undefined nature of the creative path, and the importance of connecting with other creators for inspiration, collaborations and community.

Mentions:

To wrap up the year, Morley and Ryan talk about the top 10 things that broadened or changed our perspective about creativity in 2021:

Ryan:

In this wide-ranging episode, Morley and Ryan catch up on what we've been up to over the last six months, the new perspectives we have learned in that time, and our plans for upcoming creative projects. We had a great talk about Ryan's new writing project on Medium, Morley's recent maker projects, and how we discover new ways to create, despite limited time and resources. We touch on the importance of being part of a creative community and connecting with other creators, while also reflecting on some of the notable artwork that have made an impression on us this year. 

Mentions:

After a brief hiatus, we're back with another amazing guest! Justin Oeffler is a maker, woodworker, and the video creator behind Bear Maked. Whether it's making a pen out of metal nuts, building a socially distanced Halloween candy cannon or cooking food in a Cricut mug press, Justin doesn't shy away from the new and different. In fact, it's a central part of his creative process. We had a fantastic conversation with Justin, and we're looking forward to putting out regular episodes again!

Mentions:

Stephanie Bond is a multi-talented painter and artist, whose beautiful artwork consists of sweeping landscapes, wildlife, and historic seaside scenes of the Gaspé coast. Her imagery evokes themes of nature, memory, and the significance of home. With well over 100 paintings completed and many more on the way, she hopes to represent and promote this unique region of Canada to those within the community and those who live well beyond it. 

Mentions:

Sarah Giffin is the artist, designer, and jewelry maker behind ViV Jewelry. In 2019, Sarah started making jewelry as a way to escape the stress of university. Before long, she was enamoured with making colourful, unique pieces out of polymer clay, and two years later, she has built ViV into a successful, full-time business. In our twentieth episode, we discuss Sarah's journey to starting ViV Jewelry, her creative process, how she uses content creation to promote her art, and how we all continue to find inspiration for our own projects. 

Mentions:

Chris Parnell is a personal chef and entrepreneur based in Golden, British Columbia. From a young age, Chris knew that his passion was cooking. He has over 12 years of professional cooking experience, which includes The Fat Duck in London (a three Michelin starred restaurant) as well as backcountry lodges across the Canadian Rockies. In addition to his personal chef work, Chris is the co-founder of Dogtooth Chocolate, which will be launching later this year. We hope you enjoy this  great conversation about Chris's story, passion and adaptation, the professional cooking world, entrepreneurship and the two-sided coin of social media.

Mentions

Kevin Raposo is a photographer, video producer, entrepreneur and educator with over a decade of experience shooting concerts, corporate events, sports, real estate and more. After earning his Masters in Media Production from Ryerson University, he went on to start Speedy Photographer - an online photography school. In this episode, we dive into Kevin's story, his experience working as a freelance photographer, his philosophy as an educator, the future of photography and the sometimes controversial culture surrounding the craft. We had a blast recording this episode and we hope you enjoy!

Mentions

You might know him from the Maker Knife, the Kinetic Driver, or the Polycalendar. Maybe you've been watching his cinematic maker videos for years. No matter how you came across Giaco, one thing is clear - his passion, creativity and innovation shine through in everything that he does. 

In this episode, we dive into Giaco's story, how years spent working in the Internet space created a need to make something he could touch, how he transitioned from creating viral videos to creating whatever he likes, his philosophies on content creation and product development, lessons learned from making YouTube videos, and the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Mentions:

Kristen-Innes Stambolic is a video artist, animator and dancer. Trained in contemporary dance, Kristen's intimate knowledge of anatomy and movement shine through in her videos. This connection can truly be seen when she combines dance, rotoscoping and video effects to create videos that are nothing short of hypnotic, and with her organic animations that evoke movement and interaction. Kristen, Morley and Ryan create videos in three distinct styles, but a common love for the craft and shared creative struggles made this a fascinating conversation chock full of cross-pollination!

Mentions:

Charlie Kert is an arts educator, musician, skateboarder, and the founder of Little Fingers Music - a Toronto-based music school. He has released multiple children's CDs, a progressive folk rock album, developed and performed in an interactive rock operetta for children, and was a sponsored, competitive skateboarder in the 1970s (and continues to tear it up on the halfpipe to this day!). While they might seem like totally separate pursuits, skateboarding is a central source of inspiration for Charlie's songwriting, teaching and creative philosophy.

Intro: Shake yer Shakers by Charlie Kert

Outro: Breathe by Charlie Kert

Mentions:

This week, Morley and Ryan compare their approaches to creating YouTube videos versus creating films. This wide-ranging conversation covers editing techniques, cinematography, camerawork that has its roots in cinema but has been adopted by YouTubers, project scale, narrative structure, "hooking" in the viewer, creating and relieving tension with builds and payoffs, judging one's work, creative development and how each medium can learn from the other.  

Mentions: 

Assem Kroma is a storyteller, filmmaker, actor, teacher and researcher in the fields of new media, interactive and transmedia storytelling as well as virtual and augmented reality. He is using experimental filmmaking to explore new ways of creating connections with audiences, with techniques such as 360 degree video, robotics and extended reality (XR). We had a wonderful, wide ranging discussion with Assem about his story, the importance of being flexible and open to opportunities, accepting imperfections, creative development and much more.  

Mentions: 

Andy Pugh is a lifelong maker, creative and teacher. He is a one of the most supportive voices in the maker community, and seems to connect just about every maker across the globe.
We had a great conversation with Andy about his story, how he found the maker community, the maker movement, creativity, art, why we make and so much more. Enjoy!

Mentions:

For this very special 10th episode, Morley and Ryan are joined by Cathy Kert - a talented interior designer who also happens to be Morley's mom! With over 20 years of experience, Cathy has built her business from the ground up, and is now one of the most highly sought-after designers on Cape Cod. We dive into her decision to change careers, how she works with clients to design their most intimate spaces, her process of building a successful business, things she wish she knew when she started, her design philosophies, and simple steps anyone can take to make their space more comfortable and beautiful. 

Mentions: 

This week, Morley and Ryan are joined by Jeremie Warshafsky - a visual artist and architecture photographer based in Toronto, Canada. Jeremie captures the built environment from a unique perspective, and his professional portfolio evokes the sensation of exploring a building for the first time. His personal work is a fascinating combination of rarely-seen perspectives, aerial photography and collages. Jeremie is an inspiration for anyone who wants to turn their creative passion into a career. 

Mentions: 

This week, we are joined by Chris Dezurick, AKA ChrispyD. Chris is a talented young hip-hop artist who is making waves in the independent music landscape.  At the time of this writing, Chris has over 50,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, with his top song coming in at over 2.5 million streams. In a world that is increasingly accessible to independent artists, yet in some ways, more challenging to navigate than ever before, Chris is finding success by focusing on the art and surrounding himself with other talented, motivated, positive people. 

This week, Morley and Ryan talk about finding a balance between skill building and creating original work. We also discuss the difference between imitation and inspiration, and developing the confidence to recognize and apply your inspirations without feeling like you're sacrificing your unique voice. 

Mentions:

This week, Morley and Ryan discuss how the past 5 months of living in a pandemic has affected our creativity, shifted our perspectives, brought clarity and created unexpected opportunities.

Mentions:

This week, we are joined by Stacie DaPonte and Sandra Rizkalla - cofounders of Tablo Creative, a full-service creative agency in Toronto, Ontario. 

Stacie and Sandra help brands tell their story through content creation, creative branding, web design & development and digital marketing. 

Stacie and Sandra are the epitome of a complimentary duo. Though they have started their business at one of the most uncertain times in modern history, they have been able to stay agile, adapt, and develop relationships with great clients that reflect their values. 

Mentions:

This week, we are joined be Olivia Guselle - a multi-talented musician, singer, and songwriter from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Olivia sings across a variety of musical genres, has participated in multiple concerts, musicals, and other music shows across Canada! She talently plays the ukulele, drums, guitar, piano and many other musical instruments. 

She is currently a student at the University of Toronto where she is studying for a Bachelor’s of Music in Performance.

What we're putting in the spotlight this week:

This week, we are joined by John Kuiphoff - maker, designer, woodworker, teacher, coder, video creator, and a guy who is generally difficult to put into a box! 

The best way to sum up John is in his own words: "I make stuff with computers and glue."

John's work is a unique marriage of woodworking, creative coding, technology, teaching and data visualization. His passion is contagious and we are so excited to see what he does next. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did!

What we're putting in the spotlight this week:

This week, we are joined by Luis Regalado - a talented 3D artist, designer and musician who is starting his career in the video game industry. Luis's work spans across a dynamic range of practices such as character modelling, rigging, animation, environment modelling, and shredding on the guitar!

Mentions:

This week, we are joined by the talented and multifaceted Julia McGillicuddy - artist, designer and a recent graduate of Parsons School of Design. 

Julia creates across a wide range of themes, visual art and media. This includes Workmens Denim - her personal line of hand painted,  one-of-a-kind custom made denim clothing and Equal Fans - a platform and online community for female football fans that challenges the "male, pale and sometimes stale state of modern football culture."  

What we're putting in the spotlight this week: 

Hello and welcome to Into The Spotlight, a podcast about bringing creative people and the creative process... you guessed it, into the spotlight!

In this inaugural episode, we talk about how we met through Ryan's documentary on content creators, reminisce on the origins of the podcast, and take turns interviewing each other!

This was a really fun conversation to kick off the podcast, and we hope you join us for the ride!

Thanks for listening :)

Mentions: