Finding Your Creative Voice (What Photographers Can Learn from Garrison Starr)

In this episode of the Big Photo Hunt Podcast, Ken Deckinger sits down with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Garrison Starr to talk about creativity, authenticity and how photographers can find their artistic voice. 

From growing up in the South and facing rejection to building a career in Los Angeles, Garrison shares raw stories of resilience, faith and the healing power of music. 

Whether you’re a photographer, musician or any kind of creative, this conversation is filled with inspiration on staying true to yourself and making art that matters.

Show Notes:

Garrison Starr on Instagram: @garrisonstarr

Garrison Starr on YouTube: @GarrisonStarr

Website: garrisonstarr.com

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Transcript

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Speaker 2 (00:01.684)
Make it about something bigger than you. How can we leave something behind or contribute to the world in a way that's gonna be lasting and that's gonna be helpful? You know, when I have anxiety about something that I wanna say or do, to me, that's a red flag of, that's not the place we need to be coming from. And I do think that if you are really in touch with your heart, I think you know what the answer is.

I think we all know what the answer is. I just think it's a matter of whether or not we're going to be willing to hear the voice and listen to that voice.

Boom.

Speaker 1 (00:44.59)
Welcome to the Big Photo Hunt podcast, a show where we talk with aspiring and professional photographers to help us all grow and improve our photography together. I'm your host, Ken Deckinger. If you're one of our community members and you'd like to be a guest on the show, please visit bigphotohunt.com for more information.

Speaker 1 (01:17.208)
I've started to realize that I meet people, just wherever I go. I meet people in places and a lot of times these people become my friends. And then, well, it seems like a lot of those times they wind up on this podcast or it goes the other way around. I invite them to be a guest on this podcast and then they become a friend. My guest today was the former. We met on an airplane and I just wanted to talk to her more and I wanted to share her story and her wisdom about

creativity with you. Because although she's not a photographer, she's a creative like all of us. That and the fact that she sat next to me on an airplane for six hours was enough of a reason to have her on the podcast. So I hope you enjoy the episode today and I want to introduce you to my guest, Garrison Starr. 

You're not a photographer. mean, you may be a photographer, but that's not why. That's not why.

Definitely not. One in 10, I get lucky. I'm like, ooh, that was a cool shot. My wife is like, what's this podcast? I'm like, I don't even know. She's like, well, who is this person? I'm like, I met him in Delta One on a flight, my first Delta One flight. We had a great conversation yesterday. I was just like, I have no clue. I'll tell you tomorrow after it's over.

Well, you can tell her that the reason I wanted you on the show is because although it's about photography, a lot of it is about creativity and being an artist. So I want to tell everyone how we met and I want you to tell everyone about you. We'll get there in a second. But a lot of it is about being an artist. And after we met and I listened to your music.

Speaker 2 (02:55.406)
That's the coolest thing. I literally was like, I'm never gonna hear from this dude again.

You invited me to that show in Boston and I wanted to go, but I was so tired. I was literally going to go. I was going to bring like my wife and kids and everybody. And then I was just too tired. But as I listened to your music and you told me your story, I got two things out of it. One is that you are truly authentic and two, your music is amazing. And I was just like, I got to have Garrison on the show because I want to talk to her about just

being creative, being an artist, and I wanna talk to you about your journey because whether you're a musical artist, a photographer, a painter, we all get inspiration from somewhere and we all kinda, I think, struggle to find our voice and get that inspiration that defines our voice. And I just really respect how you get your voice and how you communicate that voice. And so was like, I gotta have Garrison on the show. Plus, I had a great time talking to you and like, how could it go wrong? Well, it could go wrong in a million ways, but.

It could, but it won't. But we talked for so long. It was so great. I feel like we were both in the same boat of like, man, I'm really enjoying talking to this person. Also, I'm in Delta One. I really want to fucking talk. But we're talking and it's great. I just want to keep talking. Is that how you were feeling too? Because I was like, fuck, I just want to watch a movie. But no, I like Ken. I got to keep talking to him. He's so interesting.

Yeah, totally. And to tell our listeners how we met. So we were in like this luxurious Delta one first class on a plane going from L.A. to Boston. Right. We're going to L.A. X. Right. Yeah. That's where you're. Yeah. From L.A. X. to Boston and like Delta one. First of all, just to clarify, like I'm not sitting here always flying Delta one. I am a delt. either. OK.

Speaker 2 (04:32.662)
We were going from.

Speaker 2 (04:44.96)
No, that was my first time and my only time at this point. I mean, don't get it twisted. I'm trying to fly Delta One every time, but I'm not there yet. I've only done it once, but it was like the best thing that's ever happened. And I never want to fly it other than Delta One ever again in my life.

I'm a Delta loyalist. Delta has a hub here in Boston, so I get all kinds of points and I'll do everything to be loyal to Delta just to get those upgrades.

Do you have the reserve credit card? Did we talk about this?

I don't know if we talked about it, but I do have the reserve credit card.

That's the current problem because now they've upped my credit limit. So it's like, please don't raise it anymore.

Speaker 1 (05:19.51)
At least you're getting points and

That's right. That's why I do it.

I'm a Delta Loyalist because they're a hub here and also I travel a lot and it really is nice just to know that one in every, I don't know, four flights you get upgraded and maybe one in every three flights depending on how high you are up on the ladder. So we were in Delta One. It was cool and when the plane lands, you just kind of want to stay, right?

Well, but also the Delta One thing in LA is great because they have a private entrance where you open the doors and it's like, hello, let me take your bags. Let me get you a drink. Let me get you some nuts. You know, there's one TSA person that's just the nicest person ever. You don't have to take off any of your clothes. It's wonderful. And then you walk down that secret candlelit path to this elevator that takes you to the la, I mean, you know, it's luxury one-on-one like in LA. It's the greatest thing ever.

Yeah, we don't have that in Boston, but I through that at LAX and it's great. Right. Yeah. They're like, here, why don't you sit here? If someone will be right with you, would you like a mint cucumber infused glass of water while you wait?

Speaker 2 (06:21.61)
or a glass of Chardonnay. Yes, I would. Thank you very much.

And you got on the plane and you were wearing an Indigo Girls hat. I remember seeing that and I happen to always have loved the Indigo Girls, which is probably why I love your music, because you've got a lot of influence there. And now we're here today. And so now that everyone knows how we met, sipping on gin and juice in the Delta One eating, I don't know. Let's tell everyone about you. I'm going back, by the way.

I'm not going back. This weekend I have to go to a wedding in San Francisco. I'm going just for the night and I got upgraded again. So I'll send you a picture.

Please send me a picture dude. I will.

All right, let's tell everyone about you and your music and just everything that makes Garrison Star, Garrison Star.

Speaker 2 (07:10.422)
All right, well, I grew up in Hernando, Mississippi, which is just shy of Memphis, Tennessee. So it's like, Hernando is just kind of a suburb, even though it's in Mississippi, it's in the general Memphis population area. So I grew up in that Memphis area and for as long as I can remember, have been singing and playing guitar or something, but always singing, always writing. I grew up in evangelical Christianity, which was really hard for me because I knew from an early age that I was gay and...

You know, I heard my parents and all their friends talk about those Blacks, those gays, those Jews. mean, anybody who wasn't white evangelical Christian, you So when I was young, I knew, you know, I mean, I remember being afraid, realizing I was gay at a young age. I remember being afraid. I remember being like, well, this is going to be impossible. And I remember having anxiety at that time. And I share that because it's pertinent. You know, it's affected my journey and

the trauma that I have from the church. it, you know, that influenced how much I went to music. mean, music has always been my only safe space, really. The only place that I knew was mine, that I could control the environment and that I could tell all my secrets or tell all my fears and my worries and my, you know, the place where I could go to tell my stories. But when I was in college, I was outed by my evangelical friends and a bunch of their parents.

and I was made an example of, I was bullied, I was told that I would be given tough love till I repented of my sin of being gay, then I lost all my friends and my community. So that really informed the next 25 years definitely of becoming someone who would stand for those who don't have a voice and use my voice for how I can use it to make change. I've always wanted to make change with my music and my voice.

And it also kind of broke something in me, I think. It broke something in me. Maybe it's a loss of innocence, you know, when you're so young and you realize like, okay, the world is not what I was told it is, you know, like this isn't, you know, not for everyone. And so I ended up moving to Los Angeles because my friend Bradford Cobb, who's from Tunica, Mississippi, who now manages Katy Perry, he was moving out to LA.

Speaker 2 (09:33.518)
to start working for this management company, direct management. And he was like, hey, I've got some room in the truck. Do you want to go? And I was like, I'm out, I'm going. I mean, it was just like two weeks, stuff in the truck, moving to LA. It was just like a pick up and go kind of thing. And I knew I had to go. I knew if I didn't get out, this toxicity that I was in, I knew if I didn't get out of my environment to a new place, I didn't know what would happen to me. I didn't know if I would survive.

So I remember moving to LA with Bradford and it's just like, as soon as I landed in LA, was like this world opened up that I didn't know existed. It was this world that was so big. And I remember we moved into our apartment and he was like, man, I'm gonna take y'all to get the best Mexican food that you ever had. Let's go eat. And he takes us to Beverly Hills to Baja Fresh. How funny is that? It's just like, takes us to Baja Fresh. And I mean, literally like for us,

in the mid 90s being from that area, it was like, well, this is the best Mexican food we've had because, you know, at that time there weren't a whole lot of great Mexican restaurants in Memphis, probably like there are now. But so anyway, when we were driving back from the restaurant, I looked out the window and this image has stuck with me for all this time. I remember feeling sad. I'm feeling, you know, down and confused, but also excited about what's to come. And so

I looked out the window, we were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard. I saw the burliest dude I have ever seen with the longest ass string hair, stringy ass beard, wearing a pink string bikini, pink flip-flops and riding a bike. And I just thought, okay, I'm in the right place. This is gonna be okay. Like ain't no evangelicals gonna be up in my bushes when this motherfucker's riding around. So I'm gonna be okay. You know what I mean?

That's like, they say, what is it, if you're in the woods and a bear is chasing you, you don't have to run fast. You just have to run faster than the slowest person. It's just like, it's like that. It's like you're out in LA and like, yeah, they're gonna come after him before they're coming after you.

Speaker 2 (11:34.413)
It's

Speaker 2 (11:41.55)
Well, yeah, probably. But I just thought that was so refreshing. I'd never seen anything like that really. And it just, I don't know, to me, it just, let me know that I was gonna be okay and that this, you know, that this was gonna be okay. And that I'd made it to a safe place where if this dude can ride around in his pink bikini and on his bike out in the open, then like, I'm just gonna, you know, just gonna press on.

And from there, you know, I got my first major record deal in 1996. I got a development deal with Geffen Records. I got signed out of a club in Memphis. I mean, the mid-90s were kind of, they were an exciting time, but it was also like, I got signed to this record deal and some of the same people who had ostracized me because some, bunch of like, you know, minister dudes told them to, they were showing up at the front row at my concerts. And I've had, you know,

several major record deals, a couple of independent record deals. And the thing I keep coming back to is just like, what is it that I want to say and what is it that I have to give? Making sure that like what I'm putting out into the world is what I'm meant to put out into the world.

When we met, you mentioned that your music, I asked you what kind of music you made and you called it something like gospel meets folk or is that gospel and folk seem like the same thing to me. I'm not a, just so you know, I'm not a music person. like, don't know. Yeah, I know.

Yeah, but you know what you like, you know, it's like that's how I feel about art. People like you want to go to an art gallery? I'm like, I'd rather die. I don't I mean, what am I looking at? I don't even know what that is. But, you know, I would say that my gospel, I mean, that my music is rootsy. I probably said it was rootsy, but it's not country. But this latest record that I made, I call it Swamp Gospel Hymns for Humans and their gospel inspired songs. And some of them are up on the Internet. Like I definitely have a live record.

Speaker 2 (13:32.142)
that's out only on vinyl, so you can get it through my website. I recorded it live with a full band last October in Los Angeles at the Hotel Cafe, and it's got a lot of the gospel songs on it. But anyway, the point is, after all the stuff that I went through being outed and just, you know, just completely emotionally abused by the people that were supposed to be protecting me, I kind of just felt like over the years, you know, I really had to divorce myself from where I was from. Just like...

I don't even know what this is. I don't understand it. It's ugly. It's hateful. I don't want to anything to with it. But before that happened, I loved that church. And what I learned about faith was important to me. What I learned about singing. And so I love gospel music. And I thought my voice is rootsy. I'm an Americana, folky artist that lends itself to that because that's where I came from. And so these songs and the project that I've been working on, the gospel truth, it's

You know, it's looking for my lane in that world. It's looking for answers. It's looking for love and ways to try to build a bridge.

Is it a way to get your message out or is it a way for you to heal or is it a way for you to prove to yourself that you can do it or is it all of the above?

Wow, that's a great question. I think music is...

Speaker 1 (14:54.124)
Sorry, I asked that because I think that a lot of artists, creatives, we all have something inside of us that has to get out and all of us have different reasons.

Yeah, totally. That's a great question. I think it's a way for me to heal, certainly, and to question things. But I also see music as a gift that I've been given. And now that I'm older, I really want to be a vessel for what it's supposed to be. You know, when I was younger, it was all about me. Now it's like, how can I be of service to myself and to other people through my music?

Does that make sense?

It makes total sense because when I listened to your music after we met, I expected something with more religious undertones based on the way you had explained it to me and based on your story. But I mean, your story on a five and a half hour flight from LAX to Boston, which we I got your story. And so I expected more of a religious undertone. It doesn't feel like you're rejecting religion, but like you are kind of.

hate religion. I hate it. I hate evangelical Christianity. I don't want anything to do with it. But I don't think that has anything to do with Jesus. Jesus' message has been hijacked by a bunch of people living in a country club who just want to make money and exclude everybody else. You know, that's what it is to me. But that's not who Christ is.

Speaker 1 (16:14.99)
That's religion around the world, Like, if you think about, religion is not only a unifying force, but a divisive one. And that happens.

All over. but like unified in what? You know, it's like, I would like somebody to explain to me, how are we unified? That's what I struggle with. Because it's just like, man, it's not that hard. It doesn't seem that hard to me.

You know, I question not question, but I wonder if you question because I know I do this with myself. Is this path the path I would be on if I had not experienced all that? It makes you who you are. When I was growing up, I grew up in Florida. You know, in hindsight, I look back and I'm very good at fitting in and like getting to the top of where I need to be almost as like a protectionary measure. sure. And I think that in hindsight, when I look back at my life as a kid, I think I had some learning disabilities.

And I think I overcame that through an outgoing personality and being able to be part of whatever I needed to be part of to be successful because I was compensating for probably some of my deficiencies. And as part of that, I also think that I was always a creative person, but was suppressing a lot of that. And so when you talked about

how when you got to LA, it was like the world was there. I actually found the same thing when I got to New York City. I moved to New York City after just not feeling like I was ever fitting in, even though I always fit in because I was able to compensate and be, I don't wanna use the word chameleon, but I was able to always fit in because I was able to compensate and cover myself. But I still never felt like I fit in and didn't understand what any of that meant.

Speaker 1 (18:05.378)
And then I got to New York City and I was like, holy shit, I can do anything here. So when you talk about your arrival into LA as that, I completely relate. Well, maybe not completely relate because I was not discriminated against. I didn't have to go through that traumatic experience, but I don't think I would have ever said that until maybe five, 10 years ago when I started understanding who I was and not that who I was in the past was wrong.

But all those experiences made me who I am today. And one of the things that I found was I'm an entrepreneur and entrepreneurs are inherently creative. They're creating something. And I created a business when I got to New York City and I wound up selling it and made a little money and I was like, all right, cool. But in hindsight, I look back at that and that was kind of me saying, you to all the alpha culture, because look,

I did it, I did it my way.

Well, I love what you said about not fitting in. Cause it's like, you you can, you know, you can make yourself fit in because you know how to be safe, but that's a survival technique. That's not really thriving, right? And I never felt like I fit in either.

I tried to do the thing, but I knew there was something that I wasn't really being true to about myself. And I wasn't really getting to have a full experience because I was afraid to act out on any of my feelings towards women because I was afraid of what would happen. And then I never felt like I could just let loose and authentically be me ever until I moved to LA. So I feel the thin end thing. Whereas it's like, okay, I was popular and everybody liked me. I didn't really feel like I was thriving.

Speaker 2 (19:48.782)
and still I moved to a place where I could really be free. Yeah.

And I don't think I recognized that though until later in life when I look back at it because I was very popular. Like I was never very smooth with girls. never like, all the girls were my best friends, you know? it was like. I know. Yeah, I was like, I know, but I really want to hook up with you. It's like.

Totally,

Speaker 2 (20:16.673)
I can't wait to meet your wife.

My wife's awesome. She puts up with so much shit.

So does mine.

My wife's great. She's beautiful and incredibly smart. She's got an MBA from Harvard and I know one day I'll be giving a speech somewhere. Maybe it's at my funeral or I'll, I don't know, I'll write it down. I don't know. I mean, I'll record it, whatever. I'm going to, you know, if you figure that one out. When I do

The speech at your own feet.

Speaker 1 (20:50.398)
one day have a speech and I'm giving some kind of acknowledgement. I know it's going to be like, listen, I owe it all to my wife. That's the end of my speech. I owe everything to her. But all this is to say that I hear you, I understand you and I relate to it in a lot of ways because I never was unhappy. know you were unhappy. I was not unhappy, but I think that's because I got comfort in my ability to survive. So, yeah, so New York.

So.

Speaker 1 (21:19.874)
For me, New York was that breath of fresh air and the bus would drive by with the big pollution and I would breathe it in and I'm like, this is beautiful. Yeah, more bus fumes.

on earth!

Gosh, New York, man. New York is savage, dude. Like, I tried to live there. I lived there for like eight months and I was like, I cannot do this. If another person sneezes beside me on the subway, I'm gonna fucking lose my shit. I gotta get out of here.

I was there for 15 years and one day I remember going to this, I have a funny story. I went to this doctor, her name was Dr. Wong. If Dr. Wong ever listens to this episode, I'm in deep trouble. I needed a doctor, I didn't have a doctor and my wife went to Dr. Wong. This was gosh, a long time ago. And I needed to go because I forget why, I think I was having like a headache or something and I was having a groin pain.

Dr.

Speaker 1 (22:10.126)
And I was like, I gotta go to a doctor. You don't wanna screw around with that. So I went to Dr. Wong. First time ever, I did all the paperwork. I went in there and she comes in and she's the same age as I am. She's very attractive. And I'm just like, all right, I'm gonna tell her about the headache and I'm not gonna tell her about the groin pain. I know this is professional, but I'm just, I'm not pulling my pants down for her. She's gonna see my little wee-wee and I'll be like, this is all over. Anyway, so we do the headaches. We talk about this and we're getting ready. And I'm like, okay, cool.

And then she's like, tell me about your groin pain. Oh no. So yeah. No, filled it out in the paper when I registered. No, no, she wouldn't do that. She wouldn't do that. No, so I filled it out and I did that and then whatever, gun exam. But then every time I went there, it was like I had to pull my pants down because like, I guess I had it on record that I one time had a groin pain. So now every time I got to get checked.

I thought your wife betrayed you.

is what we play.

Speaker 2 (23:06.924)
You gotta get checked.

Yeah, so for like years I just thought, I gotta go to the doctor again.

I don't even know why I wore pants to those appointments. It was just like...

Seriously, seriously. And in New York, you probably would have been fine to wear no pants, you know? You probably just get a go on pants list to Dr. Wong's office, nobody would have cared. So how did you end up in Boston? Right, okay, gotcha.

Nobody would have cared. It's where my wife is from. Yeah, honestly, for me, I've got three little girls. It's a city for family.

Speaker 2 (23:33.792)
I've always enjoyed my time in Boston. really have. I don't get there often, but I've enjoyed my time there. And I do love Club Pasim, and I am looking to come back there in the early part of next year. I'll definitely be texting you.

It's nice.

Speaker 1 (23:44.906)
I'll be there this time. I'll be there. I'll bring the whole posse. We're all coming. That'd be awesome. I would love it. So we talked a lot about where your inspiration comes from, why you sing. One thing we didn't really talk about is your style. Why do you have the style that you have? This is important for photographers because I photographers try to find their style.

I can't wait. cannot wait. Wonderful. How cool, man. I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (24:12.302)
You could be a street photographer and go out and your style is completely different than another street photographer. And so what is it that makes your style as an artist?

man, you know, I never learned how to sing. I just started singing. Like, I really think that I started singing right out of necessity. I had pain, I had questions, I had all this stuff that I was thinking about that I had no one to talk to because it wasn't going to be okay to discuss it with anyone in my life. So I just opened my mouth one day and I could sing. And I started singing my stories and singing my thoughts and singing the pain and singing. And that's just all I could do was sing.

And that's been a process. That has honestly been the process over the years. Cause the first record that I, that came out, my debut major label record was called 18 Over Me and it came out in 97. And you know, it's hard for me to listen to it because my voice is so raw and so unbridled and it's really angry because I'd just been outed and I was thrown into this horrible situation. It was a horrible time, you know? And I wrote, I was so angry about, you know, about it all.

But it's interesting, the one song on that record that really I think is everybody's favorite is a song called Superhero, which is a very triumphant song. Because when I was on stage, I was a superhero, I am a superhero. There isn't anyone who can touch me. It doesn't matter what you have to say about me because I have the microphone, you know what I mean, in this moment. So I think just in terms of like where my style has come from, I think it's just come from living.

You sound very authentic. Your style is very authentic.

Speaker 2 (25:44.846)
That is important to me and that probably the biggest compliment you could give me because I think authenticity is the one thing that everyone should be bringing 100,000 % to every situation. The best you, the most you, the best you, you can be. You need to be getting in that lane and don't get out of it.

I agree, took me a long time to get there. And now I try to be completely authentic. And I believe that also if you are your authentic self, success or the path that you're supposed to be on will kind of unfold in front of you.

I love that. I've come to believe the same. That's my faith as well. Yeah.

Yeah, I believe that. I wanna ask you any tip or tips that you would offer creatives on how to stay true to yourself.

I don't, that's a hard question to answer. Cause for me, that's been like, there has never been any other option than to stay true to myself. Like, is this true? Is this true for me? I mean, honestly, I think that's the best tip. know, a friend of mine said this to me years ago and it's not left me, but how can I be of service? How can I be of service to my business, to the world? How can I be of service?

Speaker 2 (27:04.768)
and what is true for me, what rings true for me, and how can I deliver that message in a way that's true but is also on point. Make it about something bigger than you. How can we leave something behind or contribute to the world in a way that's going to be lasting and that's going to be helpful? You know, when I have anxiety about something that I want to say or do,

To me, that's a red flag of, that's not the place we need to be coming from. And I do think that if you are really in touch with your heart, I think you know what the answer is. I think we all know what the answer is. I just think it's a matter of whether or not we're gonna be willing to hear the voice and listen to that voice.

Boom. That's it. Three quick questions. I ask the same three questions at the end of every one of my episodes. They're for photographers, so they're not gonna apply to you, but that's why I wanna ask you, cause I Oh good, I love this. All right, the first question I always ask is what type of camera system do you use? Yes, all right, that's perfect. That's That's it. All right, next question, and this is again, I know you're not a photographer, but that's what makes it so good. What's your favorite-

My eyes are.

Speaker 1 (28:24.32)
genre of photography.

Black and white portraits, whether it be of actors, regular people, rock and roll, black and white portraits.

All right, and the third one is how often do you get that burning itch, not to be confused with the burning itch, to go out and make photographs?

Never. But if I'm in a moment and I see something that's pretty, I'll take it. But it's very rare.

Garrison, where can people find you? Where can people find your music, your website, your social media?

Speaker 2 (28:59.264)
I'm at garrisonstar, two hours in garrison, two hours in star, just at garrisonstar on Instagram. And you can find me there. can message me there. I do see those. And then you can find me. YouTube is always good. And I think it's just at garrisonstar on YouTube as well. And then my website, which is just garrisonstar.com.

Thank you so much. I enjoyed my flight with you. If I knew what an amazing singer you were on that plane, I would have had you stand up and give me a solo or something. So if you ever find me on a plane again, run, because I'm having you do a performance.

It's so amazing that you reached out and I think it's so amazing and just a testament to how beautiful life is, you know, and how if you're open to it, like how beautiful life can be, you know. So thanks for finding me and we're friends forever now.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. Our next show will feature more valuable stories from our community members. If you'd like to audition to be a guest, please visit bigphotohunt.com for more information. Thanks again for listening today.