MIM 01 - Featuring Felix Russel-Saw

Mind In Motion - A creative spotlight

Do you ever wonder what really makes something stand out in the deafening noise of the creative space?

For me, it’s something that seems effortless, free from illusions of grandeur or undertones of desperation.

It’s not needy or trying to be something it’s not. It doesn’t try to impose its presence on you. 

It feels as though it exists because there was nothing else to do that day. 

It seeks neither validation or applause; it’s understated and intends to remain so. 

Ultimately, it stands out not because it demands to be seen, but because it offers an authentic glimpse into the candid creativity of its creator.

This is exactly what I feel when I view the work of Felix Russell-Saw.

I’ve always appreciated his work because it never seems to be about him; rather, it feels like he is simply the entity that opened the door for it and allowed it to emerge.

Felix kindly accepted my invitation to be the first creator featured in our new series, Minds In Motion.

This series invites artists, designers, entrepreneurs, and digital creators to share their processes and explore how they define and distinguish themselves in this ever evolving space.

 

 

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1.⁠ What inspired you to pursue this creative path, and how has that evolved over time?

I honestly think it was just being told I couldn’t do it. When I was 15 I applied to do photography in college so my dad bought me my first camera, over that summer it was all I did, skate and take photos.

When September started and the colleges were allocating students into classes, they told me that I didn’t have the grades to do it and I wouldn’t apply myself to it. So I feel like it was a bit of a fuck you I do what I want attitude and just carried on doing it off my own back.

Funny because 15 years later I had an email land in my inbox asking me to return to my old college and talk to new prospective students about my work.

 

Obviously I told them to jog on as they probably didn’t want me telling all the students to ignore their teachers.

 

 

2.Can you share a moment when you faced a significant creative block, and how did you overcome it?

 

I feel like this is every day for me honestly.

It comes in peaks and valleys. Im either on a high and feel like I’m smashing it or I’m absolute garbage and should just get an office job or something.

I feel like Ive been producing some good work as of late though, the industry has just changed so much since I first started doing this all.

Obviously social media has just watered down everything we do now so seeing overwhelming amounts of incredible work can make it hard to do your own and ask if it’s good enough.

Coming out of Covid was a tough one as lots of my work was travel and lifestyle work, I was lucky enough to keep working through the pandemic but as we came out I was with an agency shooting a lot of commercial work to make ends meet, that was pretty un-inspiring and turned into a real slog towards the end.

I knew I just had to get through it and keep shooting, always taking a camera out even though some days you just cant be assed.

Pushing through it and realising you do it for the love and just making work that I wanted to see. Whenever Im in a creative rut I just know I’ll keep going and it will just be a short phase. Nobody on planet earth is making pure gold every second of their existence.

 

 

3. How do you balance staying true to your vision while adapting to trends or external pressures?

 

This is basically every commercial job ever these days right?

It will start with an email saying that a company loves my work and they want me to shoot a campaign / project for them.

We will start putting together a pitch and I’ll have a real awesome concept and vision for it all. Then it will go through producers, higher-up’s and marketing and it will start getting pulled apart down to “whats good for the algorithm or what will perform well for ads”. Fine, I do get it, thats just how things work these days.

 
When we get to shooting I’ll always work closely with the client getting what we had outlined to build a bit of trust then just get a few wildcard “just trust me bro” shots.

More often than not they end up being lead images which are in line with what I imagined which can be satisfying.

 

 

4.What does success look like to you as a creator?

This one is a hard one.

I think 15 year old me would probably look at myself and my work now and see that as success I think. But at the same time I look at myself now and just endlessly compare myself and work to others and think why aren’t I there.

Sure I could chase clout with a million followers, famous friends or some fancy cars.

But in reality, I’m feel like producing work you like, doing what you love and being able to sustain yourself from it is really all it is.

Doesn’t matter what medium that could be, just not having a “real job” and having freedom to do something you care about for a living is very fulfilling.

 

5. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in a creative field?

Just do it.

Put work out there, and keep putting work out there.

Malcom Gladwell said that you need to put 10,000 hours into something to become a master at it. So just start putting those hours in and it will happen.

Cheers!

Felix

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Follow Felix on IG

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