S2 E8: Creative Compulsion, The Need to Express What’s Inside

Exploring Creativity: Threads & Bones

S2 E8: Creative Compulsion, The Need to Express What’s Inside, with Kirk Marshall

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S2 E8: Creative Compulsion, The Need to Express What’s Inside, with Kirk Marshall

Fuelling creativity through photography, nature, and journaling. A conversation with my B-I-L around creativity, processing grief and why you can’t ignore your inner voice

Bec Forde

Apr 03, 2026

Well it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted a podcast episode but this is one I’m really thrilled to share.

My brother-in-law Kirk sat down with me the end of last year for a discussion on his passion for photography and how revisiting his journal helped him process my sister Pippa’s death, and that even if he doesn’t understand it, why he feels compelled to turn it into a book.

📝Show Notes & Key Takeaways

📷 Creativity Can Begin Quietly:
While Kirk didn’t see himself as creative growing up, in retrospect he realises he was subtly exposed to it through his dad’s photography.

🌏 Passion Sometimes Grows Over Time:
Even though Kirk picked up a camera in high school it wasn’t until an overseas trip as an adult that documenting life evolved into capturing emotion and a deeper desire to tell stories through images.

🎯 Photography Blends Art, Technical Skill, and Sometimes a Whole Heap of Patience:

According to Kirk this involves:

multiple scouting trips & vantage points for optimal composition and lighting (sometimes months in advance)
the technical nuts and bolts of camera settings
the push and pull available in post-processing to shape emotion and meaning

🔁 Creativity is a Lifelong Compulsion:
One of the things Kirk enjoys about photography is that it’s a never ending learning process, it has no finish line. The urge to capture a scene - he sees something and has to shoot it - is ongoing and deeply personal.

🛠️ Creativity Can Help You Temporarily Keep a Lid on Grief:
During Pippa’s illness, cabinetmaking provided structure, distraction, and calm. Journaling became a safe place to process overwhelming emotions. That journal is now evolving into a book.

🌄 Nature as Solace and Inspiration:
Time outdoors clears Kirk’s mind, grounds him emotionally, and connects him deeply to himself. It also shapes his photographic vision with respect for the natural world.

🔥 Creativity Projects Won’t be Quieted Until Expressed:
For Kirk, his creative projects come from an undeniable compulsion to get them out into the world. It doesn’t matter how ephemeral or if anybody but you likes it, the value lies in giving your inner voice form.