Monica Steffensen On the Ever-Evolving Nature of Creative Work
Project: UNA, 2021
Words & Photography: Monica Steffensen
My creative drive took a dive over the past year due to a growing sense of stagnation. I felt a need to make way for a more creatively playful approach.
Having just returned from holiday with 7–8 rolls of 35mm film, I saw an opportunity to integrate film photography in a new client project. Gravitating towards analogue was a liberating way to embrace the imperfect, the hand-held and the less controllable.
The dreamy, light and playful visual profile of UNA was the ideal case for merging analogue and digital photography. It was a very intuitive and playful process, where one format complemented the other and resulted in a harmonious aesthetic. Working creatively means continuously evolving. That’s how and why you make a living as a creative professional.
There is no creativity without experimentation, so we should always allow and make room for curiosity and playfulness in our work.
Monica Steffensen is a Copenhagen-based photographer, writer and storyteller whose work has been featured in the likes of Condé Nast Traveler, Cereal, Kinfolk and The Guardian. Besides the editorial work, Monica also does commercial photography and her portfolio touches on a broad variety of disciplines, including design, lifestyle, architecture and travel.
