Musician and Singer-Songwriter Terry Price of Photo Ops talks creative discipline, Nashville years, and his new album Opening Up To Strangers
Welcome back to “The Creative Wayfinder’s Compass.” We ask artists the same eleven questions to uncover the instincts, philosophies, and practices that shape their creative lives. This month’s spotlight is on Los Angeles-based musician Terry Price, the creative force behind indie act Photo Ops. Since 2013, when he first began releasing music as Photo Ops, Terry Price has been quietly carving out a catalog of indie folk and pop songs.
His work feels both intimate and expansive, emotionally resonant and vocally iridescent with skillful soprano harmonies and sparkling, reflective lyrics that don’t shy from feeling life’s peaks and valleys. Over the years, he’s garnered more than a million plays on Spotify. His debut album, How to Say Goodbye, captured the attention of critics with songs like “Pictures of Me and You” and “It Makes Me Cry.” Follow-ups like 2020’s “Play On” from his sophomore album Pure at Heart and “When You See Something Beautiful in the World” and “Once Around the Town Square” from 2023’s album Burns Bright (among others) have held critical attention in indie circles.
Today nearly 9,000 listeners return to his songs each month on Spotify. For this issue of The Creative Wayfinder’s Compass, Price talks openly about the breakthroughs, doubts, daily habits and usual practices that keep his songwriting moving forward. The newest Photo Ops album, Opening Up To Strangers, features dreamy covers recorded in Price’s Los Angeles apartment with longtime collaborators. The album is all covers of Price’s lifelong favorite songs, like Madonna’s “Like a Prayer“, Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One,” and Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams” among others. In this interview, Terry Price opens up about his creative process. Let’s dive in.
“I think if you just keep showing up, the gods will reward you.”
Terry Price
Who are you and what do you create?
My name is Terry Price, and I am a songwriter, recording artist, singer, and instrumentalist.
What first inspired you to pursue your creative path, and how has that inspiration evolved over time?
My first love is music. My first cassette tape was the Beach Boys, and I used to get crushes on girls and listen to music in my bedroom. I got a guitar when I was 12 and stopped playing sports. I was in grunge bands in junior high and high school. I shifted gears my sophomore year and started listening to jazz, folk, classical, songwriter music, etc. I think my mind caught on to the musical and lyrical possibilities in most kinds of music, not just hard rock music. I kept writing songs as a way to make sense of overwhelming feelings.
I moved to Nashville for college and played in all different kinds of bands before landing on Oblio, my band for 6 years. I wrote the songs and the band co-arranged everything. I played around with stream-of-consciousness lyrics while still focusing on melody and harmony. I started my solo project, Photo Ops, when the band broke up in 2010. Since then, I feel like I’ve grown the most as an artist. Really focusing on self-expression in a more focused and clear way.
Can you walk us through your creative process? Do you follow specific rituals or habits to get into the flow of your work?
What seems to be the process for me is that I collect ideas for a few years. I’ll have melodic pieces, with chords, etc, and I will collect fragments of poetry, all as it happens naturally. Then the work is marrying them together and developing the ideas into songs, and then arranging them in demo form to explore the production possibilities.
What themes, ideas, or emotions do you find yourself returning to in your work, and how have they shifted over time?
For me, loneliness, anxiety, beauty, comfort, the confessional, and the transcendent seem to be the cycle I come back to mostly. It’s sort of been my transition through life’s problems to express the feelings in a way that allows me to move on. But over time, I continue to want to grow as an artist. Looking for ways I can explore more shades of feeling and expanding. I’ve been really drawn to how longing feels in music. And maybe trying to capture dream-like impressions.
What’s been your biggest creative breakthrough, and how did it change the way you approach your art or writing?
I think moving into my solo project was the biggest creative breakthrough I’ve had. I really pushed myself to give of myself fully in the lyrics and melody. And since then, I’ve had the confidence to explore more from there, but I feel like I really found my lane as a writer and artist.
How do you navigate periods of creative block or self-doubt, and what techniques have helped you push through?
I typically need to reread the first few chapters of The Artist’s Way, and then I usually remember how to do it. It basically has you identify your blocks and then shows you how to give yourself permission to move beyond them.
How do feedback and criticism play a role in your process? How do you decide what advice to follow and what to set aside?
I’m not a fan of music criticism as a rule. I feel like it really has little relationship to how I, and most people, experience music. That said, I’ve usually had a handful of friends that I trust who I send my demos to to get feedback. It can be helpful for sure, but at the end of the day, I tend to trust my own instincts, especially if I feel strongly about the song.
How do you balance personal creative expression with the commercial or external demands of your work?
I try not to think about it when I’m in the creative process. I do tend to be drawn to a lot of elements of pop music from the last century, so I think catchiness or whatever is something that I just happen to love and prioritize. Once the music is recorded and finished, I’ve tried to walk the line of casting a wide net with getting people to hear the music who would like it, but it’s a real struggle to define your own sense of what success is or should be.
I lived in Nashville for 15 years, and it really fucked me up in terms of how success is defined there. I’ve been trying to unlearn all of the baked-in pressures of the place. It’s a very American perspective: “You aren’t a real artist unless you are making a living” type mindset. Pretty toxic.
What’s one of the most challenging projects you’ve worked on, and how did you overcome the difficulties you faced?
I’d say it’s the album I’m trying to write currently. And I’ll have to let you know how I overcome once it happens.
How do you stay motivated and disciplined, especially during times when inspiration is lacking or inconsistent?
I think if you just keep showing up, the gods will reward you. For me, it’s just a matter of picking up my guitar or sitting down at the piano, usually with the TV on, and just letting my mind wander and get lost without thinking too much. That’s when the best stuff comes. Then you just have to treat the best moments with respect and carry them to completion carefully.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out, or to an artist who’s struggling to find or trust their creative voice?
I would say read, listen, watch, and keep showing up to create. Let yourself make mistakes. You don’t have to show anyone everything you do.
Hey there, this is M.K. Hancock, and I want to thank you for reading “The Creative Wayfinder’s Compass.” This is an independent publication exploring creativity in the human experience in the arts across industries. That’s my English degree way of saying these are interviews highlighting people’s creativity across the arts. Terry Price’s interview highlights the importance of perseverance, honesty, and creative evolution. If you keep showing up, sometimes the luck will be there.
How do you show up when your creativity feels stuck? I invite you to share your thoughts, ideas, and answers in the comments.
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