Creatives In Nature: Emily Maye
Our series Creatives In Nature is back with Santa Barbara-based photographer and director, Emily Maye. With a focus on nature-centered sport, Emily’s work communicates an intimate and powerful story in each image. Having worked with Rapha, Specialized, Nike, Tracksmith, Garmin and having contributed to Outside, Men’s Health, ESPN and Victory Journal to name but a few, Emily shares a selection of her work with us, her inspiration, essential gear and the power of a pencil.
What do you do for work and where are you living?
I am a director and photographer living in Santa Barbara, California and Brooklyn, New York. I usually spend the summer in California and the winter in New York, opposite of what most people might think.
What are your favorite ways to get into nature?
I’ve always been a fan of road trips as long as I can remember. I love going on long drives in beautiful scenery especially with music. If it’s raining that’s even better. I also really love trains and casual walks in nice light. Also love a really dark night sky.
Do you have any mindfulness practices that you regularly use?
Starting this year I have been adding meditation into my day and even the little bit that I do has helped change the way that I approach things. I also write a lot and I think for me that’s a mindful practice. I like to connect what’s in my head to paper and that’s how I always start the day. Always in pencil, I love that a pencil changes as you write, you have a real marker of ideas getting out of your head and on the page. I grew in ballet and I would carve out a lot of time for visualizing a performance before I would do it and I wish I spent more time in that headspace now. I think it would really help with some of the things that I do creatively.
When do you first remember getting into documentary via film or photography?
When I first started taking photographs more regularly I would just walk around my neighborhood with a camera and you learn to see photographs and then take them. It always was something about geometry or symmetry or movement and light that would draw my eye but I was kind of terrified of taking photos of people. Photography has always been something that I can focus on and be in the moment. I can’t really be anywhere else mentally and do it well so it forces me to be present.
How is your experience in nature reflected in your creative work?
All of the work that I do centers around Sport and many of the sports that I work in are nature based and I think that adds something special to that work. I love courts and arenas because they feel like a stage and there’s history in the rules that govern the space but in sports like cycling and running where I do a lot of my work there’s a whole new character to the sport that is introduced by the landscape or the weather. I try to make it part of the photograph. With cycling you move through so much space, and less so with running but the energy of the surrounding is always a character in the photographs. I think it also makes people seem like they’re part of something bigger around them.
All photographs by Emily Maye
Are there any stories or projects you’ve shot that pushed your boundaries and evolved your perspective on your work and way of seeing?
Working with people really has the biggest impact I think. I always say that I try to shoot the person and not the sport. I think that’s what keeps it fresh and I really respond to trying to see the person I am working with in an interesting way. I mentioned that early on I was scared of shooting people but now I think that’s the most interesting part and now I could never go back.
Do you find a big difference between shooting stills vs a short film when it comes to the story and feelings you’re sharing?
There is a huge difference between the two. I actually think they have almost nothing in common. When you are shooting stills you are shooting the final product in that moment. And also people will, for the most part, look at an image for longer than the moment actually transpired and so the process is very different. When I am directing film, the filming is only a very small part of the final piece and so you have to see beyond it for how the images will be edited together, how voiceover or music will change tone or how any of the other finishing elements affect the final film. I hope that the final work feels connected in some way through the way that I see the world and the emotions that move me but they’re so different. I love both for what they are and the challenge of directing has me pretty hooked for the future.
What are a couple of your favorite pieces of gear or tools and why? (Bike, shoes, watch, pack, camera, etc)
Yellow Woolrich floor length puffy jacket, Tracksmith Duffle Bag and Tracksmith x Article One Sunglasses, I always have Anker external battery chargers with me, Aero-press coffee maker is a must, The Masterpiece pencil sharpener (sometimes I go so far as to travel with a desktop pencil sharpener), MD Paper Products Notebooks, Black and Gold Contax T2 for snaps, Airpod Max Headphones, Samsung SSD External Drives make my life so much better.
What tool or piece of gear is on your wish list right now?
I just bought the Fuji Medium Format camera and have been waiting for it on backorder. Excited to see what that does for slowing down my photography process and push myself some more. I have tried so many different cameras to try to find the one that feels best to me and I just can’t find it. Sometimes on the same shoot I will use cameras from different makers, I just go with what I am feeling at the time.
How has your work or approach evolved over the last year with all of the changes and challenges in the world?
In the past 10 years I have traveled non stop for work and had barely spent more than a few weeks at home at a time for a decade. For me that meant that I got to slow down and throw myself into some projects that I knew would take me awhile to wrap my head around and take a step back and really think about the next phase of my career.
When I did start shooting again I thought it would be different but it hasn’t really been other than extra safety precautions and some things take more time. I would say the biggest challenge has been not having clients on set and doing all on set communication through zoom. There is a pretty big disconnect in receiving notes or understanding the implications of a note on set when the client isn’t there but for the most part I’ve been surprised at how well that has gone considering what a big change it is. I also had the experience of directing remotely and that was wild.
Can you share anything about any upcoming projects you’re excited about this year?
I just wrapped a film with a professional running team in Colorado for Adidas that we shot on 16mm film and I am really excited about. And a few commercials that I directed that will be coming out soon. I have some big plans for film projects coming up and working on a music video and some images to go with that, so it’s exciting to do something a little different at the moment as well. My big dream would be to make a book and I hope that will be somewhere in the future very soon!
Emily lives and works from Santa Barbara, while traveling the world to document real athletes in action. Her short films are inspiring and her recent work highlights a deeper insight into the culture of sport and the diverse group of men and women leading the way. Aside from her work shared here, you can listen to Emily on the Finding Space podcast.
Tags: Creatives In Nature, Movement