Ash Murrell

Commercial lifestyle photographer, Creative, Belleville, Ontario

How has the pandemic affected you?

This is a big question. Initially, during the early stages of the pandemic, I was in pure hunter-gatherer mode. Creativity and art took a back seat. Very quickly all new work dried up. Since a lot of my work has been working closely with clients, showing their brands products in the hands of their potential clients and helping to develop a sense of intent with those brands, being isolated makes this impossible. As I'm someone who enjoys a good challenge, I decided to spend some time learning a new form of art: CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). This will continue as we go through these strange times. I have also re-geared my business, changing the overall focus to product photography. After building an inhome studio, and setting up specific drop-off instructions, this has been made possible. Product photography is a different direction to what I used to create, but I plan to merge the two mediums when life returns to normal.

How has life changed? What professional opportunities are you seeing for the future?

Life has shifted for everyone now. I've worked from home for the last 10 years and still tout the benefits of learning to work more efficiently. People will be getting on board with this, and even some larger companies might start making this a norm. I’m really worried about the art space currently as it's really divided. We will probably see a few years of turmoil as people seek quick cheap fixes for their companies, rather than thinking long-term and investing in quality. If you have been involved in a collaboration, how did you manage that?

I've mainly coached a few artists through these weird times. Teaching people how to pivot fast if the business looks like it may not work well, or how to refine their existing works. I've steered clear of actual collaborations, just being careful and protective of my family till this is over.

How has this experience affected your perception of the importance of art and artists?

My perception hasn't changed a ton. I still believe that art has an instrumental way of helping everyone to appreciate life and the weirdness that is to be human. Its ability to distract, to disarm or even dismantle beliefs is one thing I feel we'll see more and more in the upcoming years. We (humans) have a lot to learn, and we really need to start to understand and listen better. C19 has shown us that even experts are evolving, and our trust in them shouldn't waiver based on that. What this means for artists is more heartfelt work needs to be created: Be playful, be different and love your fellow creators. This world in lockdown without artists would have been a terrible, lonely, disheartening place. Artists, are essentially creators at heart, need the audacity to continue to create works that speak volumes of their souls.

ashmurrell.com