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In this episode of Studio Tours, host Nikki Closser heads to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to tour Meg Loeks' portrait studio, tucked into a small, unheated barn just steps from her house. Meg proves that a humble 16x20 space can produce strikingly bold, color-drenched work when it's designed with intention.
Meg takes us behind the scenes of her creative process, showing how she painted each wall in her studio a different color to maximize versatility, and how she builds elaborate scenes — from a moss-covered "overgrown room" to a Beatles-inspired strawberry wall — using little more than antiques, gels, and an optical snoot. Along the way, she shares how she left a corporate marketing career to build a photography business rooted in classic Americana, color, and mood.
Whether you're shooting out of a barn, a spare bedroom, or a corner of your living room, this episode is filled with inspiration for making the most of the space you have.
Meg takes us behind the scenes of her creative process, showing how she painted each wall in her studio a different color to maximize versatility, and how she builds elaborate scenes — from a moss-covered "overgrown room" to a Beatles-inspired strawberry wall — using little more than antiques, gels, and an optical snoot. Along the way, she shares how she left a corporate marketing career to build a photography business rooted in classic Americana, color, and mood.
Whether you're shooting out of a barn, a spare bedroom, or a corner of your living room, this episode is filled with inspiration for making the most of the space you have.
Creators and Guests
What is Studio Tours?
Host Nikki Closser takes you behind the scenes and inside the creative spaces photographers work in every day. From home studios and garage setups to luxury commercial spaces, each episode gives you an up-close look at how photographers design, use, and grow their studios.
Think MTV Cribs… but for photography studios.
Along the way, you’ll hear the stories behind the spaces, get inspired by different setups and styles, and pick up practical ideas you can apply to your own business — no matter your budget or stage of growth.
This show is best consumed in video.
Nikki (00:54.786)
Hi Meg, welcome to the Studio Tours podcast. How you doing?
Meg Loeks (00:58.836)
I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. It's nice to see you.
Nikki (01:02.412)
It's nice to see you too. And I feel like this is going to be such an incredible episode because, as you know, I'm obsessed with your work, with all of it. It's like you create magic in this studio. And I'm excited for people to see where you do it because it's not like you have this massive, glamorous, huge studio or anything. I mean, it's very cool. But to be able to create what you create in kind of a limited space is
Meg Loeks (01:13.184)
Thank you.
Nikki (01:32.238)
Pretty remarkable.
Meg Loeks (01:34.1)
Yeah, thank you. It's a humble little space. I really often work in small spaces, whether it's my home or my studio. So I think it's very normal for people to be surprised when they actually see the behind the scenes and they're shocked at how tiny the environments are that I'm working in. So I think it's good to see that though.
Nikki (01:54.446)
Definitely. absolutely. And one of the reasons I wanted to do this podcast is to show people that you don't need huge, massive spaces. I I built my portfolio and my career in like a six by eight corner of wherever I was shooting, whether that was in my house or a big studio or a small studio. So yeah, I just think it's good for people to see how other successful photographers are doing it. One, to get inspiration.
And two, to realize you don't have to fully break the bank in order to make it happen.
Meg Loeks (02:29.662)
Yeah, I really like to be resourceful. And I think it's, you know, one of those things too, because I'm working in a small space, I have to be very intentional with everything that I'm using, how I'm working in that space. And I also have to get creative too.
Nikki (02:33.005)
Mm.
Nikki (02:47.815)
Mm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. OK, so before we show your space, I would love for you to give our listeners just a brief background about you and your business, because you weren't always a photographer, right?
Meg Loeks (03:02.514)
No, I wasn't. I graduated from college with an advertising and PR degree. before that, I really truly had always been interested in photography. I had always had a camera in hand as more of a hobby. I enjoyed it. And what happened?
was is that I ended up getting married and started having children and I wanted to take better photos of my kids. So I started taking classes and this was all while I was working at a corporate job in the marketing department after graduating from college. And you know, I really just fell in love with, of course, photography even more so when photographing my kids and I started getting asked to
take photos of others, know, families, children primarily. And so that's when I launched a business and then eventually went full time with that, left the corporate job and went full time with my photography.
Nikki (03:57.142)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (04:11.787)
Awesome. Before I ask my next question, I'm going to pull up your website here. Because before we show your space, Kellan, I was thinking I could show some of her images. What do you think?
Nikki (04:28.971)
Okay, let me expand this.
Nikki (04:37.995)
I love stories like that, Meg, where, and I'm completely generalizing, this might not be the case for everyone, but sometimes working in a corporate job or I was a school social worker in a job where you have to show up to an office from this time to this time, there's not a whole lot of creativity involved, or maybe there is, but you're still, you're kind of working for the man. It can be really draining. And then it's like,
Becoming an entrepreneur and doing your own thing and making your own schedule creates this sort of freedom and joy that I think a lot of people don't experience in the corporate world. I mean, was that your experience?
Meg Loeks (05:19.751)
It was absolutely. I will say that I loved my job. The company that I worked for was at first a startup and then it grew and we were focused on building apps for children with chronic illnesses. And it was a important work, but also the company was just amazing.
Nikki (05:41.338)
so important work, yeah.
Meg Loeks (05:46.88)
everybody was involved with everything. We would have these team meetings where we would all brainstorm together. It was just a wonderful company to work for. one of those things, again, I'm doing photography on the side and loving that. like you said, the creativity of it just filled my cup and continues to fill my cup, right? So I just...
can't imagine doing anything else. And I'm so grateful too that I'm able to do something for my career that I like am passionate about and really love.
Nikki (06:27.445)
Yeah, yeah, it truly does make life a little bit better in so many ways to be able to have that freedom. OK, Kellan, I tried to minimize the riverside window, and this is where I'm at. I'm hitting Escape. Nothing's happening. What if I go here? There we go. OK. Now, I just wanted to minimize this. Do I just hit the X? I'm afraid I'm going to close out of our chat.
I think it's OK if I do this, but if so, I'll just jump right back in if we lose me. Yeah, OK. Are you guys still there? OK, perfect.
Nikki (07:10.229)
OK, Meg, before we jump into looking at your space, I just wanted to show people some of your portfolio. I mean, this is in your kitchen, right?
Meg Loeks (07:19.283)
Yes, it's one of my favorite spaces to shoot in my kitchen, because it actually is the biggest environment and area. So I have a lot of flexibility in setting up my lighting and moving my camera around.
Nikki (07:33.558)
OK, I mean, the colors, that mixer. I love it. I absolutely love it. love. nice. I have one, it's a little bluer, and it's not as retro and cool looking. I love that with the toaster. OK, moving on though, the color tones here. I know you work with color like it's your jam. And the way that you have.
Meg Loeks (07:39.059)
Yeah, that was a birthday gift. Yeah, I love it too.
Nikki (08:02.007)
things set up with this monotone sort of, is that the right word? No, monotone? That's not the right word. Monochrome. Yes, monochrome. Thank you. The greens everywhere is just delicious. I love it. I hate that I just use the word delicious, but it came out of my mouth and that's, you know, yeah.
Meg Loeks (08:08.444)
monochromatic. Yeah. Yeah.
Meg Loeks (08:15.761)
You can.
I feel like it's pretty evident that you can tell what my favorite colors are. I feel like they're repeated quite often between like that jadeite green and that dusty blue. It's in a lot of my work.
Nikki (08:23.699)
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah. OK. I'm going to click on. OK, I'm trying to think, find where the best place to. OK.
I want to find some, yeah, like where's your main, like that would show some maybe in your studio.
Meg Loeks (08:40.316)
the portfolio.
So if you go up, there's a portfolio all the way to the left.
That shows a lot of stuff, yeah.
Nikki (08:53.613)
So on your website, if I click on portfolio, I mean, it brings up all of these incredible images. And like you said, you can tell, obviously, your favorite colors. But like I said, your use of color is so incredible. I mean, here's another one in your kitchen that is just.
Meg Loeks (09:00.254)
Thank you.
Meg Loeks (09:05.49)
Yeah.
Meg Loeks (09:09.182)
Thank you. You could tell it's one of my favorite spots. I love shooting in my kitchen and it's the center of the home. And in our house too, it is literally in the center of our home. And we have a pretty open concept. And so, you know, I could see everything from my kitchen. And so I just, love shooting in my kitchen. My work does center around.
Nikki (09:14.647)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (09:19.585)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (09:36.094)
classic Americana. that also I feel like makes sense, right? That I'm shooting in that sort of space.
Nikki (09:39.669)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you'll notice here in this photo, too, that the curtains are closed. You're using studio lights. And that's something that we will get into. And you'll show some of what you do and how you set things up. Now, is this particular photo in your studio? OK. Awesome.
Meg Loeks (09:51.678)
Yeah.
Meg Loeks (09:57.149)
It is, yes. Quite a bit of my work now is, would say about 75 % of my work is now created within my studio. mean, obviously if I'm shooting in my kitchen, it's gonna be within my home, but otherwise I'm trying to do most of my portrait work in my studio. That allows me to also have the flexibility to kind of get a little bit more messy and creative, I think.
Nikki (10:10.711)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (10:23.516)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (10:24.816)
Instead of, I feel like sometimes I'm really restricted to what I can do within my home.
Nikki (10:29.899)
Yeah, yeah. This photo here, is this composited? The sinks and everything?
Meg Loeks (10:37.128)
this is a story. So this is composited, but I did move that sync three times. And when I say I did, my husband did actually. I had him moving it three separate times, but I...
Nikki (10:39.389)
Hahaha.
Nikki (10:50.967)
Well, obviously you're composited because there's not three of you in one photo, but yeah.
Meg Loeks (10:53.854)
Yeah, yeah, but I had to mount that to the wall and I moved it three separate times so I could get get the angles right because I tried. I had two other attempts before this final one where I tried not to take the sink out and move it. I was just trying to like turn my camera and angle it and shift things a little bit. It. Yeah, it didn't work out, didn't pan out, so.
Nikki (11:01.204)
Wow.
Nikki (11:21.485)
Well, the final product is just amazing. I absolutely love it. And I love that you do that. You try different angles. You move things around. It's not just one setup all the time. It keeps your brain going. Yeah.
Meg Loeks (11:26.718)
Thank you. Thank you.
Meg Loeks (11:36.287)
Yeah. I love to challenge myself to shoot differently in certain spots. you know, let's say there's, in my kitchen, I've shot in that spot a million times. Well, how can I do it differently this time? Right? And so that's what I try to do. I try to have the lighting and the colors may be different, but also like maybe the angle, the composition. I try to think of different ways, shooting through a window.
Nikki (11:53.2)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (12:05.788)
you know, different, different spots and compositions.
Nikki (12:06.656)
Mm-hmm.
Well, in this one, too, it's obviously the same kitchen, but it's a completely different angle, a completely different image. So I can see what you're saying. OK, well, just wanted to show people some of your portfolio before we actually got started so they could see the kind of work that you produce. Yeah, you're one of my faves.
Meg Loeks (12:15.494)
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I think it's a good challenge.
Meg Loeks (12:28.926)
Thank you. it's, think it's, I feel like sometimes it's a little bit all over the place, but it depends on my mood. Sometimes I am getting behind the camera, or in front of the camera, I should say, myself for self-portrait work, and then sometimes I'm just following my kids around, photographing them, maybe feeding our chickens outside. It just completely depends.
Nikki (12:50.892)
Yeah, I love your chicken work. Anyone who follows me knows that I'm obsessed with my chickens.
Meg Loeks (12:56.126)
Thank you.
Meg Loeks (12:59.834)
Yeah, they are just, they have such amazing personalities. I don't know how you cannot love them.
Nikki (13:04.992)
They do. Yes, they do. They absolutely do. I love how much you incorporate them in your photos. mean, I do mostly personal branding and seniors. And people don't typically want their My Chickens in their photos. But you inspire me. You inspire me to do some sort of creative work with them.
Meg Loeks (13:22.492)
Yeah, yeah, I, I, there are pets, right?
Nikki (13:25.438)
Yes, they absolutely are. They have names and personalities. And I know who's going to be the last in the run for a treat. I know who's going to come to me first. who's going to jump up on the chair when I'm sitting outside? It's fun. OK, let's get to your space. Is it attached to your house? Is it in your house, completely separate?
Meg Loeks (13:37.47)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (13:46.973)
It's completely separate. It's actually located in our barn. So not far from our house, I just have to like walk down our driveway a little bit to get to it. But I kind of love that because it's also really quiet. And so it's kind of like a therapeutic creative space for me. The downside is that it is not heated yet.
Nikki (14:01.43)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (14:08.395)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (14:14.922)
I was going to ask you if it was insulated when you said barn.
Meg Loeks (14:19.12)
It's not yet. And so this past winter definitely got really cold in there. We have space heaters, but it only can do so much with those Michigan winters.
Nikki (14:30.272)
Well, yes, and just for listeners, we both live in Michigan, but Meg lives in what we call the UP, the Upper Peninsula. No, you're not in the Up. Yes. Wait, let me start over. Yeah, you're way up there. OK, I'll start that over. For a second, I was thinking you were just on the other side of the bridge. So for our listeners, just so they know, we both live in Michigan, but I live outside of Ann Arbor in a city called Chelsea, which is down here. And you are.
I always get this wrong, but you are up here. There's two parts to Michigan. So you're in the Upper Peninsula, which for people who've never been in the winter, it is freezing. It's cold. It's snowy. It's not like it's the Arctic tundra-ish feeling. So yeah.
Meg Loeks (15:13.95)
It really is. It was still snowing as of this weekend. It's still snowing. like, when is it going to be done? Yeah. So it's very far north. So it was getting really cold in there in the winter. I mean, the space heaters would keep it. I think the coldest it would really get when the space heaters were going, it was like maybe 45, 50 degrees. So that's tolerable.
Nikki (15:18.826)
And it's May. It's May.
Nikki (15:35.243)
Yeah.
Nikki (15:38.656)
Yeah, yeah, that's not too bad. Right, right. Yeah.
Meg Loeks (15:40.67)
but my nose would be like red in some of my portraits. I have to like edit that out, you know, but it is nice and quiet because it is separate from our house. So that's, it's my quiet space.
Nikki (15:55.041)
Yeah, I mean, just to reiterate, you don't have to have a super fancy studio, clearly, in order to make incredible work. So when you walk into the door,
Meg Loeks (15:59.475)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (16:08.864)
Sorry, into the front door. Meg, which photo is walking like in from the front door? So if you were to enter, I guess they both are.
Meg Loeks (16:15.751)
So, yeah, so when you walk in through the door, you're facing the green wall. I actually, yeah, so I walk through the door and you're facing two, basically I have two green walls that intersect.
Nikki (16:22.986)
Okay, so let's start there.
Nikki (16:31.808)
So when you're telling me about this, tell me about it as though I'm looking at it, as though we're going through the actual footage of your space. just kind of like, so those are the two green walls that intersect, or whatever you want to say.
Meg Loeks (16:39.995)
Okay, okay.
Meg Loeks (16:44.829)
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Nikki (16:47.884)
So would that be this one? OK, let's do that. OK, so when you walk in the door, gosh, I mean, there's already so much color with the green walls and the sort of mauve colored wall.
Meg Loeks (16:49.318)
Yes.
Meg Loeks (16:58.492)
Yeah.
Meg Loeks (17:03.037)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, you walk through that door. And I love that door. I do have to mention that is a vintage door that my husband actually found at an antique shop. And it's one of my favorite things about my studio because I do include it in portraits. But when you walk in, you see the green door there, or I'm sorry, the green wall there. And that's the very first wall that you'll see when you're walking through that door.
Nikki (17:09.172)
nice.
Meg Loeks (17:32.891)
And then as you mentioned, there's that a mauve kind of like pink wall that's connected to it.
Nikki (17:39.336)
Mm-hmm. you chose those paint colors, I mean, obviously, I know these are some of your favorite colors. Do you always have the walls that color in the images, or are you changing colors? Because the reason I ask is I think a lot of people probably choose to paint their walls white or something very neutral because color cast and not everybody wants green or mauve in their photos. So how do you manage all of that?
Meg Loeks (17:57.147)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (18:05.573)
A few things that I did, I kind of looked at my house and what I had in my house and I wanted to make sure that the walls in my studio were different because I had more opportunities to shoot in different spaces then, right? So like within my house, have, my dining room has these beautiful plain blue walls. that...
is obviously different than what you're seeing here in my studio. So I wanted it to be different so I had more flexibility and more options. And I do love these colors and I wanted it to kind of create like a basically like a set and have every wall be different. And that's what I've done here. As you guys you could see I've had every single wall different. I've got the green, I've got the pink and I've got the blue. I ended up having two green walls meet though because
Nikki (18:41.29)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (18:55.542)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (19:02.525)
I was like, well, what if I want to shoot in a corner? It might be nice to have two, I think adagent walls, right? Connected together. So that's what I did here just in case I wanted to shoot in the corner, which I do all the time. So I'm so glad that I did it, but I spent quite a bit of time thinking about this, thinking about the colors I was picking. I even, I think changed it at one point. Like we, I started out with one color and then decided I'm like, now I gotta go a different direction.
Nikki (19:04.78)
Mmm, mhm.
Nikki (19:09.664)
Yeah, yes.
Nikki (19:31.848)
Mm-hmm. OK. And especially for someone where color is so important in your images. Because if you're listening and maybe the portraits that you take, you're not so inclusive of different colors. That's OK. You don't have to. But for what Meg does, that's really important. Now, I see all these different setups. So obviously, you have this vintage TV with the green sofa. And there is an orange kind of like a.
rust colored orange couch with I have that exact same yellow pillow. I love that pillow. It's on my bed. oops, hang on. And then there's a chair in the corner. Are these things that you consistently keep there or are you swapping out setups all the time?
Meg Loeks (20:06.257)
Yep.
Meg Loeks (20:23.697)
Yeah, so I, a lot of this stuff I already had, believe it or not, just, I don't know, I love to go antiquing. And so I've just collected stuff over the years. so it was nice to have a place to bring that, those items, because they were like in my basement in my house. And so I brought them out there. I've had them. But yeah, I move things around a lot. I actually have more things.
Nikki (20:33.375)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (20:41.119)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (20:52.709)
just outside my studio within my barn. Because my studio is only taking up a small portion of my barn. right outside the studio, I actually have a lot more stuff that I will occasionally move out of my studio to make space. I have to admit and be fully transparent here that I am messy when I'm shooting. It's just like things are everywhere. I'm moving furniture around. There's lights everywhere. I throw things on the floor, you know, as long as it's out of the frame.
Nikki (21:12.997)
Mm-hmm
Meg Loeks (21:22.307)
So it's kind of chaotic. But again, this space is really allows me to do that versus like inside my home. It's much harder to like, you know, get that messy and have that flexibility.
Nikki (21:34.663)
Right, yes. Mm-hmm. I was thinking, Kellen, Meg, will you, do you think you'll take footage of like the actual outside of the barn?
Meg Loeks (21:47.505)
I could do whatever you want me to do, yeah.
Nikki (21:49.259)
Because I'd love for people to see that. Is the barn really cool and old, is it modern? I'm assuming it's old.
Meg Loeks (21:57.616)
It's modern, it's really tall. It has a copper metal rough that's kinda neat, but it's all metal. It's like a metal barn. It's a pole barn.
Nikki (22:03.508)
Okay.
Nikki (22:07.613)
Okay, so maybe I should make a comment about that, Kellan. Does that make sense to then put it in? Okay.
Nikki (22:21.875)
Okay. Okay.
Nikki (22:30.303)
Yeah, okay.
Meg Loeks (22:31.685)
And also, I'm sorry, I forgot to answer the part of your question that you said, the color is always that way, and I totally forgot to, I spiraled. Okay. Yeah, I forgot to do that. Do you want me to start off with saying that?
Nikki (22:37.811)
OK, let's have you finish that then, as far as changing the color. That's OK. Yeah, just be as far as changing the colors within the photo, the actual photos. So just start with that, or however you want to start it.
Meg Loeks (22:48.519)
Okay.
Meg Loeks (22:54.299)
As far as changing or altering the colors of my studio, I occasionally do tweak the colors and I often, yes. Yeah, but also sometimes in camera with gels. one thing that I love, yeah, one thing I love to do, for example, this kind of mauve wall, I've made it quite purple with,
Nikki (23:03.571)
Within the portraits though, like in post, yeah.
Nikki (23:13.899)
right.
Meg Loeks (23:22.957)
using certain gels, like a blue gel. have like a lavender. I'll stack gels to kind of create like a custom color and I'll make it look quite purple.
Nikki (23:33.801)
I can see that in this image in particular, it looks darker blue, a little bit more purple, whereas on the actual wall, it's almost like a light periwinkle sort of bluey color. Yeah.
Meg Loeks (23:45.765)
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it.
Nikki (23:49.651)
OK, I'm going to talk about the outside of your barn really quickly just before I forget.
Nikki (23:58.976)
Wow, that's such a cool barn. Did you inherit this when you bought the house, or did you guys build this? Wow.
Meg Loeks (24:06.727)
We built it. So we built our house first. We found this amazing property that we loved. We built our house and then several years later we built our barn. Really needed it because again, my antiquing problem with collecting vintage items. know, on top of just, you know, we needed that extra space. So.
Nikki (24:24.44)
Hahaha.
Meg Loeks (24:33.401)
my husband really wanted to put up a barn and I said, well, if you put up a barn, I would really love to have like a small area of that barn, you know, for a studio, a creative space for myself, where I can, you know, create portraits, but then also like a quiet space for maybe recording educational material.
Nikki (24:44.223)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (24:55.847)
Mm-hmm, which you do a lot of. And I wanted to say that, that you do have an active photography business, and you did for many years. In fact, for many years, that's all you did was photograph for clients. Correct? Yeah.
Meg Loeks (25:08.38)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, families, children.
Nikki (25:13.363)
Right. And I feel like maybe some people would be hesitant to kind of have specific color themes and whatever, because maybe not all clients would want that. But I feel like when you create your style, that I can pull up Instagram without looking at anything other than that image. I know it's yours. And I feel like there are so many clients who are going to choose you specifically for your style.
Meg Loeks (25:41.745)
Yeah, I think that's really important. To develop, you know, and to put that out there, right? Because the market is so saturated and I think it's so important to understand yourself, your interests, like what you love, what you don't love, and embrace that. I don't know if that sounds cheesy or corny, but it's really true.
Nikki (25:43.455)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (26:00.725)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (26:06.609)
No, it's not corny. Because imagine if you had just kind of done what you thought people wanted or gone with the flow and what was trendy. you wouldn't have this amazing, incredible business that you do now. It's so just, it's like, I need to come to the UP because I'd love for you to do my own family photos. mean, because it's so different. it's so, it's art. I could imagine taking the majority of your images and hanging them on my wall.
Meg Loeks (26:25.34)
Thank you.
Nikki (26:36.447)
And I just imagine if it was my kids or me with my husband or whatever, my own chickens in there. It's just very cool.
Meg Loeks (26:36.7)
Thank you.
Meg Loeks (26:44.08)
Yeah, I specifically remember a time, because I've been sharing on Instagram for a really long time. There was a trend for several years where everything was white. Everyone was sharing a lot of that. And I was like the polar opposite. I've always loved color and a lot of my stuff tends to be moody as well. And it was then too. And I remember people making comments that like, I really love that you're just like doing your own thing.
Nikki (26:55.285)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (27:00.521)
Ha ha ha.
Meg Loeks (27:13.824)
and you're not doing what everyone else is doing because it's trending. You could tell that you really love this, you really love these colors, this is your style. And so I think that's really important. I can't imagine, I don't know, I can't imagine not doing that.
Nikki (27:16.949)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (27:29.801)
Yeah. I love that you do have a specific point of view. It just makes you stand out. It's very cool. Not that everyone has to have something completely different or whatever. You don't. But this works for you. And it just goes to show there are so many different ways that photographers can style their portfolio and attract different clients in different ways. So yeah. Yeah.
Meg Loeks (27:43.132)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Loeks (27:55.473)
the right people will find you, right? So, yeah.
Nikki (28:00.135)
OK, all right, let me just watch. I'm just going to, both of us together, watch this video. Where is it?
Meg Loeks (28:08.572)
It's just a 360.
Yeah, it's just a 360. I think the space is, my husband said it's 16 by 20. So it's small.
Nikki (28:12.362)
Why is it not popping up? there it is.
Nikki (28:18.557)
that's what I was going to ask. Meg, how large is this entire space?
Meg Loeks (28:24.06)
It's humble, it's small, it's 16 by 20. But yeah, no, but just enough. It is, it really though is perfect for me. Like I rarely ever have issues with like space constraints here. So it's very rare that I'm like backed all the way up to the wall. So it's perfect for me.
Nikki (28:28.019)
wow, yeah, not big at all. It's like a large bedroom.
Nikki (28:48.276)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I had my best studio. maybe, I don't know if it was my best, because it wasn't the easiest studio to shoot in. But the studio that I made the most money in up to this point, because I plan on making more in a different one, is a 300 square foot, including the bathroom, 300 square foot, one car converted garage. So you just, yeah, you don't need a lot of space. And we're going to watch you. No, go ahead.
Meg Loeks (29:12.988)
That's awesome.
No, you can do, I would say there's a lot you can do, as we've seen, in a small little space. And that's why I was really, again, intentional with everything that I did, like the wall colors being different, so I had versatility and flexibility with the different colors, the different spaces and environments.
Nikki (29:23.806)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (29:34.014)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki (29:40.766)
Yeah, yeah. And we're going to watch you shoot. So you're going to take us behind the scenes of a shoot you did in this studio, and we're going to see how you do it. This is awesome.
Meg Loeks (29:44.443)
Yeah.
Meg Loeks (29:49.98)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I'm excited.
Nikki Closser (00:00.236)
when you are. I can't see the record countdown, so just let me know when it's
Nikki Closser (00:09.862)
What okay.
Nikki Closser (00:14.756)
Is that why our conversation was recorded yesterday when we were talking about personal life? And I was like, Kellen, you're recording?
Nikki Closser (00:26.082)
Okay. All right, let's do this.
Okay, Meg, so you have sent me over some of your behind the scenes of you shooting in your studio, and we're gonna take a look at that also with a final image from from each little setup. So take us through what's what's happening here?
Meg (00:48.078)
Okay, so every year I a portrait with moss. I just have like these bags and bags of of moss. And I typically thank you. And I I like to keep it monochromatic. And that's kind of what I'm doing here. I have two walls in my studio that are green. So I knew that I wanted to shoot against those those green walls. And then and I brought in all these bags of moss. And I want
Nikki Closser (00:55.887)
I love it.
Nikki Closser (01:15.684)
I love the weight the weight there to keep it to keep it stable, the hand weight.
Meg (01:18.698)
Y yeah. Yeah, I will use whatever I have. You know, it it doesn't really matter. I'm pretty practical with my setups. And so yeah, the weight worked because it held the wire there. So you could see just a bunch of like pieces of of chicken wire. We have lots of chicken wire and and I just kind of molded those and I wanted to create kind of like this scene, kind of like this living space that's being overgrown by moss. And so I have this wire that I've
placed throughout the scene and then covered that wire with moss and kind of made it look like the moss was kind of like growing over the furniture and and and overtaking the space.
Nikki Closser (01:52.952)
Okay.
Nikki Closser (01:58.798)
Right. Now, Meg, how are you firing the photos?
Meg (02:06.881)
Yeah. Yeah, great questions. So with my with my self-portraits, I typically just have my interval timer going. And and and that's what I have here is
Nikki Closser (02:09.081)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (02:15.031)
Okay. I'm gonna show this part again so people can see it you know, it's flashing, obviously, and you're not doing anything. Okay, so the interval timer. Interesting.
Meg (02:22.059)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah, and I I do various things. Like sometimes I will use a remote. I have the cam ranger. and then sometimes I'll just use my interval timer. My aperture I think was like F eight or F9, so it's pretty narrow. for good reason. I want a lot of the space to be, you know, sharp and in focus, all that detail to really be visible.
Nikki Closser (02:53.743)
Okay, hang on. I'm just trying to figure out how to get rid of this. does this matter, Colin? The show toolbar.
Nikki Closser (03:07.703)
Okay, I'm so curious what the final image is gonna look like. Wait, no, hang on, let me back up 'cause I obviously already have the photo.
Okay, so what I love about this is that it is a painted wall, a chair, some moss. Like this isn't anything that you need this like sh crazy, you know, huge budget to set up. Like it's very basic. You know, not to take away from the fact that you created this, you know, with moss and all of that. I'm not saying that, but like you can get a bag of moss somewhere.
at a craft store super cheap with a chair and you know, make it work. So pretty cool.
Meg (03:50.595)
Yeah. Yeah, I I purchased I purchased zero things here. Nothing was purchased within this frame. So like the the vintage window in the back
Nikki Closser (03:59.738)
Here, let me let me I'm gonna pull up your your final image. So god, it's just it's so beautiful. Okay, keep going. Sorry.
Meg (04:05.592)
Thank you. So that no, that's fine. That that vintage window already had, I've had it for several years. It was just an antique vine. Loved it. And I I put it there intentionally just for layering and aesthetic, you know. and then the chair was just from my living room in in my house. And so my studio is only like 50 feet from my house. So just carried the chair into my studio space here. the writing desk behind me was my like.
Nikki Closser (04:19.267)
Mm-hmm.
Meg (04:33.986)
Great great grandmother. So that's an heirloom piece that I've had. And yeah, and yeah, again, just everything you see here is stuff that we already had. and then the the wire my husband helped me kind of cut because I can't be trusted with with the wire cutters. but he helped me with that and helped me kind of mold the pieces here and then I just simply covered that wire again with just moss.
Nikki Closser (04:35.887)
I love that.
Nikki Closser (04:49.295)
Ha ha ha.
Nikki Closser (04:56.079)
Okay.
Nikki Closser (05:03.439)
in the video, it looks much brighter than your final you know, obviously your final shot. Are you do you remember what your settings were or how you set that up just so people can understand how you like cause you're so beautifully lit, but then obviously the the light falls off behind you onto the floor.
Meg (05:23.01)
Thank you. Yeah. So I typically start out with settings that basically every time I shoot, my settings are close to about the same. And then I adjust my light power. So that's where I'm really strategically enhancing mood with my light power. So normal normal settings for me are shutter speed is around like one over 160. My aperture is anywhere from like F eight to F10.
Nikki Closser (05:42.159)
Got it.
Meg (05:50.871)
And my ISO, that kind of depends, but it's usually around 200. And and then I play with the lights and the power of the lights. And you could see there's several lights here. And this is this was like the heart of the image, not just the moss, but also the lighting. I knew I wanted something moody, kind of eerie and painterly. And so yeah, that's what I did here with the lights, is I layered my lights and got kind of creative with that.
Nikki Closser (06:00.813)
Yeah.
Nikki Closser (06:12.365)
Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (06:20.557)
Yeah. And with the depth of field, I mean, if you were to have done a really shallow depth of field, you wouldn't have gotten the moss and the you know, the your great grandfather was it f what it great grandmother what did you call that? Like a sorry. Yes, writing desk. Okay. I was trying to f none of that would be in focus if you used a really shallow depth of field, so it wouldn't make sense. So yeah. Very cool.
Meg (06:34.584)
Great grandmother. Mm-hmm.
It's a writing desk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Meg (06:48.012)
Yeah. And norm and normally with with this, I started out different in regard to my lighting because I started with my creative light, which was the dappled light on the window. I started with that. And that's not normally what I do. I usually start with my key first and then my fill light. And then I keep going. And then usually after my key and fill, I get creative and add, you know, maybe backlight or dappled light. And in this situation, I actually started with the dappled light.
Nikki Closser (07:00.655)
Meg (07:17.006)
First, which was from an optical snoot.
Nikki Closser (07:17.324)
okay. A what?
Meg (07:21.388)
An optical snoop.
Nikki Closser (07:23.363)
Tell tell us what that is. Or tell me what that is, because I'm not sure.
Meg (07:25.4)
So yeah, an optical snoot, it kind of reminds me of like a projector, right? So you have these little gobos that you can put in the optical snoot. And the gobo's range, the one I used here was actually like had leaves on it. and so when you put it in the the light, it it creates kind of like it's projecting whatever is on the gobo, the card itself. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (07:52.643)
Okay, cool. All right, let's move on to the next.
Nikki Closser (07:58.756)
The next video. Now, are those real strawberries?
Meg (08:03.682)
They are, my gosh. I think there's like ninety-five of them. And I bit into every single one of those to tack them onto the wall. It was it was actually awful. Like I love strawberries, but like this was this was n yeah.
Nikki Closser (08:05.315)
Goodness.
Nikki Closser (08:09.187)
No.
Nikki Closser (08:14.901)
my gosh. How how many people will try and tell you that that's AI?
Meg (08:21.622)
A lot. A lot. Well, I mean I don't. Well, and I honestly, it's usually people that are not following me. So if they come across this and they see it and they don't follow my work, then they might say that. Otherwise, people that are following me, they know that it's not. They know how I feel about that. so yeah, I had I have always wanted to create this image. I shouldn't say always, but for for years I've wanted to create this because I don't know if you're familiar with the
Nikki Closser (08:22.615)
And then you're like, listen, I bit into every goddamn strawberry.
Nikki Closser (08:30.477)
Yeah, yeah.
Meg (08:49.9)
The musical across the universe. It's it's one of my favorites. Yeah, it's it's kind of gosh, it's kind of old. Like I think it's at least maybe close to 20 years old now. But it's my husband and I, it's one of our favorites. we used to watch it a lot in college, and it's all about the Beatles. And there is a strawberry wall scene in that film that I've always loved.
Nikki Closser (08:52.781)
I am not, no. Uhhuh.
Nikki Closser (09:09.711)
yes.
Nikki Closser (09:14.721)
Mm-hmm. I know what you're talking about now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Meg (09:19.158)
And yeah, yeah. So it this is inspired by that.
Nikki Closser (09:23.715)
Wow. It just it goes to show there are so many random things you can pull inspiration from everywhere. Yeah.
Meg (09:29.772)
Yeah. Yeah. And I I knew I wanted to make it colorful because I the in the film it's actually a white wall, which really isn't me. That's for me, I'm I I like to pull a lot of color in. And I like the idea of blue here with the red strawberries. So I actually this is a a fake wall. It's like a mock-up of my studio wall. so it's just a piece of plywood.
Nikki Closser (09:38.009)
Mm, mm.
Nikki Closser (09:51.679)
Wow.
Nikki Closser (09:55.087)
Smart.
Meg (09:56.245)
Yeah, and I painted it blue for the shot, put it up in my studio. I just clamped it to a C stand, and then I tacked all these strawberries onto the wall. But it's tricky because the strawberries are thick. So what I had to do was glue a bunch of foam pieces to the wall, then bite the half of the strawberry off to make it thinner, tack them all on. Yeah. Yeah. So but it was fun. Like I I like to work with my hands. I like to create things.
Nikki Closser (10:17.558)
Right right, so the my goodness. Wow.
Meg (10:25.72)
That's part of the process for me is like seeing something through. And so you can see here I'm posing again. I again my interval timers.
Nikki Closser (10:32.388)
Wait, ha hang on one second. Start with I like to see things through.
Meg (10:38.114)
I like to see things all the way through. And yeah, yeah, you could see here I'm just posing and interval timer is going off.
Nikki Closser (10:40.642)
Right, right. Okay.
Nikki Closser (10:47.504)
Mm-hmm. Wow. Did you do the fake wall just because you knew you were gonna run paint down it?
Meg (10:56.27)
So the actually I I've had this fake wall because I had I'm created it for a different workshop. And I was driving to this workshop. So I was like, I'm gonna create this fake wall and I'm gonna bring this with me instead of using a backdrop because I really don't like to use backdrops. I I normally create either within the home or like in my studio where I actually have a physical wall. So I I already had this wall. And so I just I've just painted it a different color.
Nikki Closser (11:03.49)
okay.
Nikki Closser (11:16.44)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Okay.
Meg (11:24.591)
so that's why I actually already had it.
Nikki Closser (11:27.054)
Yeah. You get so creative. I love it. It's like I think sometimes as photographers we kind of get stuck in a in a rut and we aren't creating as much as we would like to. I feel like you are always on it. It's very cool. Okay, so the final go ahead.
Meg (11:40.76)
Thank you. Yeah, I think it's it
Well, I just gonna say, you know, it it is like hard, I think, for so many because you you do get sometimes like bogged down in, you know, client work or events. And I think it's so important for creative play and and to carve out that time.
Nikki Closser (11:54.51)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (12:03.022)
Yeah, yeah. Well, so the final image it's crazy because when I first saw this image, I am transported to the actual wall in your studio that we saw earlier in this episode. Like in in my mind, that is where you are. This isn't a fake wall. This isn't legitimately that wall in your studio. Yeah.
Meg (12:16.344)
Mm-hmm.
Meg (12:28.066)
Yeah. And and the nice thing about it is it you kind of mentioned this earlier, but yeah, I didn't really want to be ruining my actual studio wall. So having this this fake wall that looks exactly like my my studio walls was great because I I could play, experiment, and make a mess and not actually ruin my physical wall.
Nikki Closser (12:43.459)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (12:50.66)
Yeah. And just the monochromatic, like the blue on blue with the pop of red, like your your work with color is is next level. It truly is. Very beautiful. Very beautiful. Okay, I think we have one more clip here to watch. I might need to let this one load.
Meg (12:59.95)
Thank you. Thank you.
Meg (13:05.432)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (13:17.704)
it's gone.
Nikki Closser (13:22.768)
Okay, we're back in your studio here, obviously. And this is your daughter. Yeah. Okay, so that you obviously have the the pro photo light. It looks like forty five degree angle behind her. Do I have that right? Yeah.
Meg (13:27.756)
Yes, she's seven.
And
Meg (13:37.719)
Mm-hmm.
Meg (13:41.12)
Yeah, and that is that is my motivated light. So that's mimicking that lamp light. So there's a a kiss of like warm light on her hair. It looks like it's from the lamp, but it's actually not.
Nikki Closser (13:47.076)
Got it. Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (13:54.497)
Interesting. Okay. So you're just adding was it that the lamp wasn't bright enough and you just needed to beef it up?
Meg (14:00.205)
Right, right, because my strobes are are are overpowering it. So my key and my fill that I typically first set up here, and I I did in this situation, they were overpowering that ambient light from from the lamp. So I set up a a third light and that light is the motivated light. It's just mimicking that lamp.
Nikki Closser (14:05.732)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (14:20.814)
Now again, this I mean it looks like you could just be doing this in a family room. I know it's your studio, but you could do this literally anywhere. And this is the final image. Like she's about to get her tooth pulled out.
Meg (14:26.563)
Yeah.
Meg (14:31.34)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Cause she she did lose. So I think this is a second tooth that she lost, but it was the first one was on the bottom. And I was like really waiting for that top tooth to go. Because growing up, this is I I have a this very vivid memory of this happening to my brother and my dad tying a string around his loose tooth, tying it to the door, shutting the door, and the tooth came flying out. And and we actually didn't.
Nikki Closser (14:44.398)
Mm.
Nikki Closser (14:53.792)
Yeah.
Meg (14:58.84)
physically do this here, but she had already lost her tooth. But I I wanted to recreate that memory. And so we did here. And yeah, when I when I built this studio, I was all about making sure this look like it was maybe if I was gonna be shooting against a wall or whatever, it looks look like I'm in my house. because that's my work is really centered around the home. So it was important for me to have every wall kind of be different, but also again look like I was in a home environment.
Nikki Closser (15:00.152)
Right.
Nikki Closser (15:17.136)
Mm.
Nikki Closser (15:28.816)
Yeah, and it does. Yeah. So you definitely achieve that. Very cool.
Meg (15:32.684)
Yeah. And it's funny because this this wall here has wallpaper and I I love wallpaper, but I am so scared to like put that up in my house because I can like never you know, it's it's it's not permanent, but it's, you know, like not mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (15:45.208)
It it yeah.
It's hard to take down. I mean, they've gotten easier with peel and stick wallpaper. Like this backdrop behind me is just it's peel and stick wallpaper that I put on a polyboard. And when I get sick of it, I can just cover it up. But you can't really do that in your house. I mean, I guess you could, but it's no. Taking it down putting it up is easy, taking it down is not. Yeah.
Meg (16:02.348)
Yeah. Yeah. It's not easy, right? It yeah. So I mm-hmm. Right. And so I do feel like I can get more experimental with my studio and, you know, and and get a little bit more creative. And I I do take a little bit more of like a risk with like just even the the paint color and designing the space, you know. So that's that's what I did is I had one wall, you know, with that wallpaper and then the other walls were painted different colors just so I
Nikki Closser (16:25.872)
Mm-hmm.
Meg (16:32.64)
I had options and there was versatility.
Nikki Closser (16:35.876)
Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Well thank you. Thank you for opening the doors to us and letting everyone see where you do what you do. It's it's just it's fascinating. And in it and it really does help, I think, hit home that you don't need the big fancy studio. You just don't. Yeah.
Meg (16:46.99)
Thank you. Thank you.
Meg (16:55.214)
Mm-mm. No, absolutely not. No, it I mean, my you my it's my studio is proof of that. It's not big. It's a humble little space, but I just was really careful with designing it, making sure maybe to like have each wall be different. And that gave me a lot of like options to change things up.
Nikki Closser (17:01.285)
Yeah.
Nikki Closser (17:11.652)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Closser (17:16.74)
Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. All right. Meg, where can people find you if they're looking for you online? and you do also have a new podcast and it's on the Storytellers Network. What is your podcast called? And then you can tell people where we can find you online.
Meg (17:25.272)
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Meg (17:29.644)
Yeah. So my new podcast is called The Creative Thread. And I interview artists, all types of artists. So not just photographers. And I just talk about their background and also like where they draw inspiration from, all that good stuff. And that is on the Storyteller Network. and you can also find me on I I out of all the social medias I post on Instagram the most. So my handle is just Meg underscore N-L-O. and my website, MLukes.com.
Nikki Closser (17:37.647)
Mm-hmm.
Meg (17:59.338)
I update that often. Well, thank you.
Nikki Closser (17:59.662)
Your Instagram is so fun to follow. You always have something fun going on over there. So I encourage you, if you don't follow Meg yet, make sure you do because it's it's a wild ride with everything. Yes. Yeah, it's great. Well, thanks again, Meg, and I look forward to listening to your new podcast. And I will see you online soon.
Meg (18:05.294)
Thank you.
Meg (18:10.702)
There's chickens, there's chickens, there's chaos, yeah, all that good stuff.
Meg (18:22.446)
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Nikki Closser (18:28.721)
Yay! That was awesome. Cool.