Life & Work with Michael Blank

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

Hi Michael, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Hello and thank you for the opportunity! For those who don’t know, I am a photographer and director. My parents worked in Broadway musicals, so I was born into a world of music and entertainment. However, it was my deep-rooted passion for cinema that truly ignited my artistic journey. As a kid, I was so influenced by cinema spectacles (i.e. Blade Runner, Yojimbo, The Fifth Element) that I knew I wanted to become a film director and develop my own positive influence on the world.

It began when I teamed up with an actor friend to invest in our first professional camera. He introduced me to his modeling agency where I began capturing models/actors and made relationships doing the same with various agencies, thus building an official portrait and editorial portfolio. This caught the attention of renowned fashion brands, paving the way for me to collaborate with iconic names like Calvin Klein, Vogue, Burberry, and beloved celebrities I had long admired like Dick Van Dyke, Bradley Cooper, and Tia Carrere.

After a decade or so, I took the leap to establish my own production company: StrawHatProductions.com

The main mission is to provide high-quality content without the complexities typically associated with high-end productions. On my sets I strive to exude a relaxed and inviting atmosphere akin to a tranquil beach (hence the use of Straw Hat), but while maintaining the meticulous attention to detail required for producing the highest quality results.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
To everyone’s shock, my journey has not been a smooth straight line. In fact, it has been the obstructions in my path that have strengthened and improved me the most.

As I was developing my professional career, I had meetings with huge clients where I was completely unprepared for the job. At the time it stung to acknowledge, but I learned to accept that I had to rise to the occasion. As my career grew, I’ve had clients that tried to sneak fine print into contracts and take advantage of me. Luckily I caught them and had them adjusted. I’ve also had clients that tried to withhold pay from me, but I kept my cool and found resourceful ways to collect – all of this without legal representation.

When we see other people’s lives, we only see the outside presentation, but their day-to-day experience is very different. When we hear the expression “over night success” we usually don’t hear that it took 10 years, or 30 years of working towards that success – Not to mention all the natural life circumstances that occur on top of that. Now we also have social media – ‘The Great Deceiver’ – giving people the ability to present an illusion of happiness and non-stop fun, but of course that is not accurate. Life is no bed of roses without the thorns, there are no free meals unless they are made with toxic ingredients, and the greatest poems come from the working man, but he only has time to recite them between bites during lunch break.

Through my own struggles, I’ve developed a newfound appreciation. I no longer perceive adversity as unwanted events, but rather as opportunities for me to exercise my spirit. All the heavy burdens build muscle! Life never gets easier, but we get stronger and much better at handling the ups and downs. I think the key is to focus on the things that fulfill us, that create a feeling of bliss. If you focus on those feelings enough, the obstructions cannot deter you. They can only manifest temporarily until you find different routes. If those feelings of bliss drift away from us, however, that’s when we tend to give up. We lose purpose.

Successful people experience just as much or more obstacles than those who do not reach their desired success. The only difference is that successful people do not give up (is that profound or just obvious?). The only caveat I would add: when people are not aware of who they are, their true purpose can go unused. Even if you spend your best efforts, you end up going down the wrong path. It’s like having the coolest, fastest, strongest car, but you never reach the destination because you were going a million miles per hour in the wrong direction. So the moral of this rant is to get grounded first, then go after that feeling of bliss with no end in sight.

Wow, some great wisdom there. Thank you for sharing that. How would you say you demonstrate those life lessons in your work?
As a photographer and director, I am in the unique position to show people how I see the world. Imagine telling your significant other how beautiful they are. Now imagine their reaction when you show them the portrait you took of them. This hits the senses very differently.

I realize how significantly art and media can affect the world. Politicians and clandestine powers alike use entertainment industries as one of their most influential tools. Most of us don’t realize that our social norms might actually come from advertisers. They target us psychologically to make us feel less than or never good enough. They use Photoshop to create impossible body images, manipulating our entire perception of reality, just so we will continually pursue an unreachable goal, positioning their product as the only cure, forever. These methods apply to every type of influence you can think of – from our physical appearances, our weight, our financial status, our social and even personal acceptance. However, we have immense power in setting our own examples using media.

In my work, I tend to be most fulfilled when broadcasting natural beauty rather than unrealistic beauty standards. The establishment likes to catfish while I’m much more interested in high-end sushi. We can choose to be passive consumers and accept narratives from systems that we don’t agree with, or we can become the creators of our own unique visions, and pioneer completely new paths for the world. Redefining healthy versions of beauty is one of the main missions I strive towards.

The Covid-19 crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Covid-19 was a great case study in the use of media control and manipulation, one of the grandest coordinated efforts to narrow and solidify the world’s perception. Mammoth organizations (i.e. World Health Organization, CDC, pharmaceutical companies, mainstream news companies etc.) were all working together to present one narrative and to censor/demonize any alternatives. Conspiracy theorists eat your heart out. These people were blatantly conspiring! Any doctors that found success in their own personal practices were shut down for presenting methods that would interfere with the mainstream narrative that ‘vaccines are the only solution.’ Anyone who knows about ‘The Matrix’ movies got to experience the real-life version of it. Mainstream media was being used to create a completely different reality than what people witnessed in their individual lives. Even today, much of the propaganda has been exposed, yet we still see people falling victim to it.

This was also a great example of how participating in systems that we did not build for ourselves, place us in the most vulnerable position. It’s the difference between going to the grocery store or hunting for yourself. When the supply chains stop delivering, everyone starves except for the hunters – the hunters continue to eat. I have worked within Hollywood and other industries, but always as an independent contractor. As these industries were forced to adhere to strict mandates, those dependent on these classic establishments were forced to be experimented on or completely shut out, leaving them destitute. In contrast, I was free to choose my participation rather than depend on it. This is because I always chose freedom from the system over stability from it. I always recommend an unstable freedom, over a cushy slavery. As the saying goes: The cows are always well-fed before their inevitable slaughter.

If people prioritize their own thoughts over fitting-in, our lives would improve immensely. Groupthink is a way to consolidate power for those who want to rule over us. Decentralizing power is the cure to many evils, and by detaching from the herd we develop our own self reliance. We as human beings all have our unique perspective to bring to the collective, but if we all try to conform to the collective we end up weakening our piece of it. When we focus on our own sovereignty, we end up providing not only for ourselves, but create abundance to the collective at large. Unplug from the mind control devices and go into nature to find out what thoughts come through, free from influence.  This is how you get grounded and clarify your unique perspective. That’s when you come back to society with something to offer. Detach and go play my friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: StrawHatProductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelblankphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelblankphotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelBlankPhotography
• Other: https://www.michaelblankphotography.com/hawaii-book