Domestika Diary: Tropico Photo

The photography and art direction duo talk about their process and share how they’re staying creative under quarantine

The past few months have changed how a lot of creatives work, even those who were already used to working from home. But for Forrest Aguar and Michelle Norris, the creative duo behind Tropico Photo, that adjustment hasn’t made their work any less vibrant.

Combining bold colors and shapes, their striking images play with an ambiguous sense of time and place. These stylized shots, and the colorful dreamworld they create, have made the duo popular with clients like Atlanta Magazine, Allbirds, Postmates, and Google for Startups.

In this Domestika diary, they show off their living space and explain how they use it in their work, talk about their new routines and sources of inspiration under quarantine, and share their creative process.

From their colorful apartment in Atlanta, Georgia they’ve found new sources of inspiration, and taken full advantage of their brightly decorated space to continue to create and art direct their attention-grabbing shots.

Beyond using their apartment as a backdrop, they’ve also been looking for inspiration in new places, using their limitations to find new sources of inspiration and experimentation.

“We’ve been practicing noting spaces that we see around where we live that maybe felt mundane to us, or that we had seen before, and breathing new life into them through dynamic compositions, exciting editing, and using new techniques to bring our energy to what we have available to us,” says Norris.

Finding new ways to reframe and rethink spaces that aren’t initially attention-grabbing is an excellent way to capture unique shots while also developing your own style. Though self-isolation might be changing how we work, looking for opportunities to dive into new creative interests and techniques is a great way to use these new limitations to create new possibilities.

If you enjoyed this Domestika Diary and would like to learn more about how to create striking images, check out Tropico Photo’s online course, Colorful and Surreal Photography for Social Media.

You may also be interested in:

- Domestika Diary: Nathan Jurevicius
- Domestika Diary: Aaron Walls
- 5 Tips For Taking Creative Photographs Without Leaving Your Home