Colorful, creative portrait photographer Marina Williams says the breakthrough in her career happened when she stopped doing this key thing

There are a few photographers that I follow whose style is so identifiable that, when their work comes up on my feed, I can guess who the artist behind the camera was before glancing at the name. Marina Williams is one of those photographers.

Marina Williams is a creative portrait photographer whose work is often characterized by bright colors, striking shapes and purposeful posing. Along with being a creative portrait photographer, Williams is also a photo educator with both an online community and in-person events.

I had the chance to catch part of one of her presentations earlier this summer at a photography expo in New York City, and one of the things that she said about finding her own style has stayed with me ever since.

Williams stood in front of the crowd with some of her earliest work and some of her most recent portfolio shots on the screen when she explained one of the key changes that helped her to define her own style.

“Back then, there was no thought behind the creative direction of the shoot – the styling, the colors or the poses,” she said. “I was really just letting the location do all the work. I was excited to be in this gorgeous location… there was no thought behind anything else.”

“Now, all of my images are so much more interesting because I am the one doing all the work, not the location,” she said. “Everything is planned intentionally, from the colors to the style to the pose, and there’s more of an overall story being told.”

Williams’ remarks have stuck with me ever since because I, too, am sometimes guilty of finding a beautiful location and not looking for inspiration anywhere besides what I can see in front of me at a shoot.

Finding inspiration from a location isn’t necessarily wrong – and Williams will still find inspiration in locations, from driving by a tree in bloom or exploring a new neighborhood. But taking that initial inspiration and leveling it up with intentional planning, creative props and storytelling is what helped Williams move from her early photographs to her now easily identifiable style.

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Inspiration, along with intentional styling, helped Williams define her style. But to find inspiration that felt true to herself, she looked at everything from her love of scrapbooking and fashion to the art and movies she loves.

“When you are having trouble coming up with ideas, it’s really easy to just open up Instagram or Pinterest and start scrolling to look for inspiration… But in order to stay true to what makes your art and brand unique, my advice is to find inspiration in other art forms,” she said.

“When you do, you are more likely to create something new that resonates with who you are and is going to resonate with how you are as a photographer.”

Beyond her love for fashion and music, Williams also finds inspiration in art forms outside photography, from paintings to architecture and sculpture. “Take the themes, and how it makes you feel, and try to apply it to your own work. You can replicate the themes and feelings without directly replicating it,” Williams said.

When she stopped looking exclusively to the landscape for inspiration, Williams also found inspiration in anything from a cheap plastic sheeting from a hardware store to the shapes on a dress.

While changing how she finds inspiration is a big part of William’s now-identifiable style, it's one of several changes the photographer made to help define her own work. Williams started out shooting multiple genres before she spent a year working as an in-house photographer for a children’s clothing brand.

She quit her full-time job to run her photography business full-time – and then COVID postponed or cancelled all of her shoots. That’s when the Florida native started taking self-portraits. Sharing those shoots on TikTok helped Williams find her community and eventually build her education platform, Made to Make.

Williams, a Canon Explorer of Light, continues to share insight and advice on TikTok and Instagram.

Marina William's favorite photo gear

William's favorite gear includes the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, the G7X Mark III for travel, and the R50 V for vlogging.