Following The Energy of a Creative Practice
Reflections on collaborating with a former client and long-time friend
I first met Andrew Owen over a decade ago when we were both in our 20s and involved in the world of photography. Andrew was Managing Director of LOOK3, one of the top photo festivals in the U.S. at the time, with close ties to National Geographic, and I was an editor at American Photo magazine and then the content lead for LiveBooks, a website builder for photographers (which is what first took me to San Francisco.) In 2010 we co-created (with many wonderful collaborators) LOOKbetween, an event to provide exposure and mentoring for emerging photographic stars and to discuss the disruptive transformation that professional photography was experiencing. Since then we’ve stayed in touch, especially since Andrew also made the move to San Francisco, landing a job at Instagram as Creative Editor for Community, where he helped define the brand’s visual voice during a time of incredible growth.
Andrew went through my 6-month Following Energy Leadership Training in the first half of 2023. As with many of my clients, he was heading into a time of transition: the potential end of his current job and an opportunity to give more energy to his photographic practice. We both agreed that learning to “make friends with the unknown,” as following energy does, would support him through the changes.
This following energy program takes people on a journey through the eight teachers outlined in Turning Dead Ends Into Doorways, written by Staci Boden, my teacher, my guide, and, after 12+ years together, my spiritual family. (Staci also created 7Directions Dance Ceremony, which I became a facilitator of, under her training, in 2018.)
We start by choosing an intention—a quality or energy it would be supportive to grow a relationship with—and then notice how that interacts with each teacher—fear, awareness, choice, body, intuition, energy, intention, surrender—and how they all show up in daily life. We learn to “stay behind” the energy, moving out of the “push by force of will” mindset most of us are steeped in, to a curious place of seeing how our desires and intention are being met by energy inside of us, around us, and in the collective. And we “follow” that energy to places that are often more magical and meaningful than we could have conceived from our conscious mind.
Our sessions include discussion of each teacher, inquiry and intuitive guidance around how different energies are showing up in life, as well as guided visualizations and somatic practices that help clients strengthen their connection to their intuition and wisdom.
“’eep, 2023” ©Andrew Owen
During one of our visualizations, Andrew received an image invoked by the unprecedented atmospheric rivers California was experiencing at that time. He saw the water coming from the ocean, eventually making its way deep into the Sierras in the form of massive snowfall. He also saw that, when the spring melt came, all that water would return to the ocean through unusually full, rushing rivers (and re-animate the ancient Tulare Lake in central California, as we discovered.)
When Andrew took off on an image-making expedition in April, this sense of the water coming from and returning to the sea was part of what guided his attention. And when he returned from that trip, he shared several stories with me of how he had followed the energy throughout his time on the road to help him find images that had resonance for him. Over the course of our work together, we both continued to notice how learning to follow energy—to trust your intuition and flow with inevitable road blocks—was especially supportive to the creative practice, which is often, at its foundation, about finding your unique voice and sharing it through your art.
As our work together neared its end and we entered the territory of surrender, it became clear that one thing Andrew would be surrendering would be his full-time job (which he expected and mostly welcomed). In the space that created, he took himself on another image-making trip, finding powerful photos in majestic wild places across California, including the now-full waterfalls in Yosemite.
“Upper Yosemite Falls (triple exposure), 2023” ©Andrew Owen
The second thing he surrendered was the apartment he had lived in for nearly a decade. It had started to feel too small, especially for the scanner, printer, and monitors needed for his photography work. And when he landed in a larger apartment that had classic Victorian double parlors with beautiful light, he had a vision of turning the front of the apartment into his very own gallery. Rather than waiting for the usual gate-keepers (galleries, museums, publishing houses) to grant him “permission,” he leaned into his experience producing hundreds of photo exhibitions, as well as the innovative mindset cultivated during his years at Instagram and other startups, and decided to exhibit his own work on his own timeline and his own terms.
We were still in touch and he shared the development of his plan with me over voice memos—the same way we’d stayed in conversation between our following energy sessions. Then, during a follow-up video call, he shared the idea of hosting a conversation during the show’s opening weekend where the two of us could discuss the relationship between following energy and the images he’d chosen to show (which were all shot with his 4x5 field camera on those trips during and after our work together). I was surprised and honored and said I’d love to be there (with gratitude to my family for helping to make that possible).
You can see a recording of our conversation above (and here). What you can’t see is the intimate group of family—and friends who feel like family—that gathered to listen and then became part of the conversation. In an instance of grace and magic I’m so grateful for, Staci was able to be in that group, the first time she and Adrew met and one of many “closing the circle” moments that weekend.
As Andrew prepared for the gallery show, he started to notice an energy of stress or anxiety. Sitting with it the way that we learn to in following energy, he noticed a story that he needed to do everything by himself. Becoming aware of that story allowed him to choose a different path and ask for support from his sister Sarah Owen, an incredible space designer (who also helped create LOOKbetween) and Rachel Visger, a creative producer and art director he’s become friends with. As he followed the energy, the show evolved into an opportunity to showcase all three of their talents, along with our following energy work.
Andrew shared this part of the journey with me when we talked about me flying out for the opening, so I knew I was joining a whole team. And over the next few weeks, as I felt into the process of co-creating the event, I also recognized that we were now following the energy of a group experience. That had deep resonance for me from years participating in, training in, and facilitating 7Directions dance ceremonies, a space where the concepts of following energy became embodied muscle memory for me.
When I shared that realization with Andrew, it opened up some really meaningful (fun!) conversations about how we wanted to navigate the energy and, as it unfolded, what we gathered from the experience. One thing that we both noticed was the energy of showing up and being seen as our full selves by our family and community, not from a place of seeking approval or validation, but as an act of service to some greater good. (My intention for 2023 was “showing up in service,” btw.)
And so this blog post and video are another way for me to continue to show up in service, especially to following energy. Thank you to Andrew for allowing me to share some of his stories and to include his beautiful images in this post. I’m loving seeing how he’s continuing to follow the energy of this show and his space, most recently collaborating with his friend and chef, Kate Sylvan, to create a private dinner inspired by and enjoyed amidst his images.
“Rainbow in darkness, 2023” ©Andrew Owen
“Giant Sequoia (after the Castle Fire), 2023” ©Andrew Owen
