Conversations with Michael Thornburg

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Thornburg.

Hi Michael, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I honestly never thought I’d be where I am today creatively. The main artistic experience I had growing up was in music where I played the bass in my middle and high school orchestra. In college, I focused on other musical pursuits but never dove into the visual arts world and all my formal college education (undergrad, UNC Chapel Hill; grad school, Ohio State) was based around political science and education.

Everything started to slowly change in the summer of 2014 when I bought my first DSLR camera to use for one of my college courses. That sparked a hobby of photography for some time – bringing my camera to sporting events, family trips, etc. – but it wasn’t any more than that until 2016 when I decided to start my own business, formerly known as Thornburg Creative. Since then I’ve dabbled in everything from wedding photography to music videos and now I am a commercial photographer, videographer, and educator specializing in products, portraits, branding, and motion content. In addition to my photography business and studio I teach high school photography at Cleveland School of the Arts in Cleveland, OH.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the common threads all humans have, and especially artists, is that the road is never smooth. The roughest part of my life came in 8th grade when I was battling depression and also lost one of my best friends and his family to a plane crash. To experience that sudden, unexpected, tragedy so early in life has influenced everything I’ve done since then – motivating me every day to learn, grow, and be the best version of myself because I never know when my last day may be.

There have been many other struggles and other large losses in my life but I’ll talk a little about struggles creatively. The biggest one being imposter syndrome. I used to always go through this cycle where I think “I want to get to THIS point and have THIS client”, then when that happens and I think “no way I am good enough, how am I here…” Repeat. I’ve finally gotten to a point in my career where I’m very confident in my abilities, although the nerves will always hit right before a shoot but will stop once the job starts, and luckily I have extremely talented friends who are able to give honest feedback to help push me to get where I want to be.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Sure! As I mentioned before I’m a commercial photographer, videographer, and educator based in Cleveland, OH specializing in products, portraits, branding, and motion content. If there’s anything visual that needs to be done, I can help get it done – whether that’s a studio portrait shoot, location branding shoot, or setting up a website for a business.

Now what am I most proud of? That’s tough because I’m always most proud of my current work. So I suppose I’m most proud of my most recent commercial product work, especially the motion and video content I’ve been creating. I’m also extremely proud of some personal work that I can’t share too much about just yet as it’s a part of a larger long-term project.

I’d say I’m most known for my work with the high end fashion brand, William Frederick, who is based out of Cleveland, OH. The owner, William, is one of my closest friends and our friendship started at the same time he started his brand. So over the years I’ve created, or helped create, a lot of content for the brand from the very first season 1 look book to now and the future.

And lastly, what sets me apart from others is my unique vision, diverse skillset, and problem solving abilities. The goal of all photography, both client and personal work, is to solve visual problems – that can be anything from how to light a scene to what colors to use to what aspect ratio to crop. From beginning to end I help my clients see through their vision for what they need and how they envision themselves, their brand, etc.. The biggest compliment I’ve ever gotten for a portrait photoshoot is “This is the first time I’ve ever seen what I truly look like”, and that’s what I strive for with every client and brand.

Any big plans?
I recently moved back in to a photography studio at the beginning of this month where I plan to keep growing my brand, working on a long-term personal project, and trying to become the best creative and person I can be. The biggest change came recently when I rebranded from Thornburg Creative to just using my name, Michael Thornburg. For me, this is a change in both content and brand identity to a more mature, polished, business and vision for the future.

Contact Info:

• Email: michael@michaelthornburg.co
• Website: https://michaelthornburg.co
• Instagram: @michaelthornburg.co

Image Credits
Michael Thornburg