Are you creatively satisfied?

I don’t think we ever are, are we? Otherwise we’d give up and live on an island. I guess I am in some ways, but it’s very fleeting. It’s the kind of satisfaction that I get when I’m on set and an image pops up on the screen and I say, “Wow, I like it!” and then it’s gone. There are points along the journey that are satisfying, but it ebbs and flows, and it’s not ever something you reach. You continue to move forward in your career, trying to get that feeling back.

Recently, I’ve become more satisfied by doing more personal work. I’ve been using some of the money from my commercial work to do fine art projects, which has been fulfilling in many ways.

Is there anything you’re interested in exploring in the next few years?

Yes. I’m really enjoying doing my own personal work and developing a fine art element to what I do. For example, I built the set behind us and I’ve been shooting a series of images in it, working on creating characters and storylines.

I also think that LA has made me more consciously inspired by cinema and TV and the stories that are told through them. Over the last year, I’ve been transitioning into motion picture and adding that component to what I do, which I’m enjoying. To go back to the thing about satisfaction, I’ve become relatively adept at photography—even though I’m always learning, I do feel quite accomplished, at least technically, at that particular skill. Now, moving into motion has opened a Pandora’s box of things I don’t know. I’m enjoying the discomfort of not knowing what I’m doing because I haven’t had that in a long time, and it reminds me of when I first started out in photography. There is some overlap between the two mediums, though, and I’m learning quickly.

What advice would you give to a young person starting out?

Try to identify where you want to be. If you can do that, then getting there is often much easier. One of the luxuries I’ve had is knowing where I wanted to go, but there are a lot of people who don’t know where they want to go, and they just take it day by day. There are different levels of knowing what you want, but it’s important to have a general idea of where you want to go in your career.

Take advantage of your anonymity early on. You have such an opportunity to experiment and try things, but when you get to the point where there are many eyeballs on you, you need to be more guarded about what you do; you become safer in some ways. Take advantage of the fact that nobody knows you; take advantage of living at home where rent is $300 a month; take advantage of your resources and focus on your work. Determine how far you can get within those boundaries and when you’ve reached the end, move on.

Surround yourself with people who are better than you and who inspire you. Spend time around people you admire and would like to be like. We’re the average of the people we hang around the most, and I take that very seriously. This is an important thing for me because I’m very extroverted.

Become really good at what you do because the cream rises to the top. Most of the people who are doing well and being watched by other people are actually pretty damn good at what they’re doing. Come at your career from that perspective first rather than thinking about how you’re going to make money. Come at your career knowing where you want to be and then work to be the best in the world. Becoming best in the world doesn’t have to be the whole world; it can be your world or your city.

The last thing I would say is that it’s a very saturated marketplace, so you have to be remarkable. As Seth Godin says, be the purple cow; be different. Become the only person who creates what you create in the way you do it.