Nike Daily Drive: Morgan Smith

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Mo, I'm 30 years old and I'm a photographer and curator from Philly! I shoot anything from concerts to weddings to portraits to nightlife to BTS photos for films & music videos. I like to mix it up but I definitely focus on portrait photography.

Describe a normal “Day in the Life” for you currently?

So I just got back from shooting still photography for M. Night Shyamalan's next film in the Domican Republic! It was an amazing experience but also a lot of work so with all the covid craziness here, I've had a lot of down time since getting back. It's easy to want to jump right into the next thing, but I'm making myself relax for the time being. I've been spending most of my days planning future projects and getting ready for 2021.

Could you name the one personal trait or aspect of your life that keeps you going everyday?

I think what really keeps me going is my intense fear of not living up to my potential. There's really nothing worse than wasted potential to me. I spend a lot of time getting in my head and psyching myself out so I just gotta remind myself every day that I'm in control of where my life and career go and if I keep putting in the work, I'll end up where I'm supposed to!

Are you currently working on any projects?

I'm definitely trying to take advantage of all this lockdown time and start planning the next Time To Pretend, which is an all women's art show that I host and curate biannually! Our 7th show was supposed to be this past March, but it had to be postponed so I'm definitely trying to make this next show the biggest one yet! Every show has 10-16 female artists from the Philly area as well as 20+ female owned small business vendors so it's just an awesome opportunity to empower women and give female artists a platform to share their work with the city.

If you could pass on any advice or words of inspiration to your community, what would it be?

Do you. We spend so much time on social media comparing our work and our careers and our lives to everyone else's and it's such a waste of time. Social media is fake, everyone is just flexin for the gram and honestly, at the end of the day, we're all on our own journeys anyway! There's no point in worrying about what everyone is doing, so focus on your craft and just do you!