Rules and Structure: Does it Help or Hurt Creativity?

When we step into a photo shoot, we’re carrying in our minds a quiet structure—a framework to our initial thoughts. We begin by asking: What story wants to be told here” Who are these images meant to move? What approach will serve the client’s vision? And how can we bring our creative instincts into the frame?

However, beyond all that, each shoot is a collaboration with reality. We choose our approach, yes, but we don’t choose the subject. The light, the mood, the moment—they arrive as they are. Our role is to meet them with honesty, with a framework flexible enough to bend and an eye open enough to see what’s really there.

Our collaboration with X Novo is perhaps the best expression of this working style we’ve had recently. During the time we’ve worked with Craig Williams, we’ve co-created some of our favorite wine imagery. He has offered us such trust and freedom that, in turn, it moves us to reach for our deepest abilities and most creative ideas.

From day one, Craig was curious about how we would portray him. We knew about Craig’s enormous reputation at Phelps in the Napa Valley, but he appeared before us as a quiet and humble individual. This dichotomy was particularly compelling to me. Like his wines, his talent and efforts simply speak for themselves. Talk the person and you know them in a way. Drink their wine and you know them even more deeply. Listen to how they speak, watch how they move, notice what they notice. All small things that add up to conveying a person in a way that feels honest and authentic. It was a real pleasure to make portraits of Craig and represent the beginning of X Novo in Oregon.

October 13, 2025