The Yoga of Photography with Melina Meza

Melina Meza is a fine art photographer in Oakland, CA. Her work is impressionistic — a celebration of in-camera multiple exposures, motion, and macro photography. Some days this means a surprising take on a tulip. Other days this means Yosemite re-imaged through a more feminine lens. Every day this means her subject and singular perspective irrevocably intertwine.

Think: a picture of a tulip that is actually a poem ABOUT a tulip.

Melina’s photography is also informed by her extensive experience as a yoga practitioner and instructor. Her photography is a creative alliance with nature, in which she is at once artist and healer. 

Rachel met Melina when they became neighbors in late 2024 — and it didn’t take long before their eyes sparkled with the recognition of a creative playmate. They fell into a habit of geeking out about creativity even when passing each other to take out the trash. With their unofficial creativity series well underway, it was only natural that Melina be Muzi’s first Featured Artist.

Please enjoy these excerpts from their March 1st chat. And stay tuned for video clips on Muzi Instagram!

I want to begin with backstory. You’re so wildly creative in so many different ways. Were you always pointed toward creativity? Or were there specific moments in your life you pivoted toward creativity?

I was not always oriented toward creativity. Not at all. 

I steered away from a traditional 9-5 job my entire life and there’s a certain amount of creativity needed to be a woman entrepreneur. Also, though I never thought of my yoga practice as creative, I’m really into sequencing and I’ve made books to inspire other people.

But in 2012 I started a photo-a-day project. I was inspired by a friend of mine who is an improvisational singer. He was doing a song-a-day project and I saw him change over the course of a year. More of him was coming alive. So as I watched him I was like, “I want some of what he’s drinking.”

I like the momentum of doing something every day. Simple tasks. Some days I had an hour to play outside and do photos. Some days I had five minutes. It was about a commitment to seeing something. 

My photo a day turned into 7 years of photo a day so I learned a lot about seeing. I made some years themes. I did this not for any outcome. But 10-12 years into the process I could call myself an artist.

I’m obsessed with this story. It strikes me as one of the most wholesome stories I’ve heard about turning to a life of creativity. I think many begin begin wanting be a writer or photographer or musician but don’t particularly want TO WRITE or TO MAKE MUSIC. But this is a story of someone who started with PHOTOGRAPHING and that led to you becoming a photographer.

I didn’t have a goal in mind. I wasn’t trying to create a masterpiece each day. It was the art of seeing every day. 

At this moment I have a solo exhibit in downtown Oakland. I’m in four galleries across the country. I’m teaching classes on creativity. I never expected this.

Let’s talk about your work. Something I appreciate about your photographs is that even though you might be taking a picture of something we’ve seen before like flowers or Yosemite, your photographs look different. You give us a new look at these things we’ve already seen. So I’m wondering, is that just what happens when you hold a camera or is there intention behind that? 

I think it’s both — it’s what I naturally see and my intention is to take a picture that doesn’t look like every Ansel Adams. So it is a challenge in my mind: how to not get bored, myself, of looking at the same tulip. How can I see tulips different this Spring? It’s hard and I love it. 

I am a landscape photographer to some degree. I resist saying that because there are so many people who do beautiful landscape in a classic way and when I’m in landscape I see it as more of a feminine field. I’m attracted to softer space, softer light. More of a feeling of a place. When I photograph Yosemite I include more of what’s on the ground rather than looking up at all the vertical iconic landmarks. 

That makes sense to me looking at your photographs because in a sense they’re literal. They are the place. But they are also so impressionistic. So as you photograph, are you in dialogue with Ansel Adams?

No. With Yosemite, yes. With that rock. With that leaf or that tree. Ansel Adams isn’t nowhere because he’s filed back there in my mind. I know what a good photo is supposed to look like in a traditional sense. So you know the rules, but then you break them. I do in camera multiple exposures. I love doing photos that include what I’m literally standing on with the iconic landmark so that you’re getting a whole experience of the ground up and it looks like an impressionistic painting. 

I love what you said about boredom being a guide. I can relate to that as a musician. I’ll sit and the piano and audition melodies: bored, bored, bored. And then I’ll play something and it grabs me. Is that what it feels like with you and the tulip?

Yes and it is a feeling. If you’re paying attention, your heart-rate goes up. That good stress flows through your body when you get excited. If I don’t feel that, I’ve got to do different light or I’ve got to move my body to a different location. 

A lot of people, when they step toward creativity, feel they have to be single-minded. Something I enjoy about you is that you have photography. You also make scarves. And you’re a yoga instructor. So I’m curious how these different things inform each other.

Through yoga I learned I have vata energy. Vata people are typically creative. We also typically like variety. So for me, to have a few things on the stove has always been helpful. My attention wanes one place and I’m grateful I have another place I can stay creative. 

I’ve realized photography is as good as a sitting meditation. It clears the mind so I’m in the moment. I didn’t know how to focus before I had a yoga practice. I don’t know how I would have made it through college without yoga. It also taught me non-attachment. Ego is not a huge part of my creative life. I do what I like.

You took the Creativity Quiz and sent me your Spark. I was going to guess your Spark based on what I know about you and I had an idea in my mind. I thought you’d be very Inspired and Disciplined. Well, you’re officially the most disciplined person I’ve quizzed— two clicks more disciplined that me! I had the record until you! With all that electricity and productivity, I would have expected Rest to be your shortest point. But you are respectably rested. How do you do it?

Ayurveda has taught me to be efficient throughout the day. I watch my energy and do certain things at certain times of day. I do my yoga teaching and planning in the morning because that’s when I’m most focused. I move in the afternoon. I wind down by 10pm. I engage creativity at the times of day it feels effortless. 

If you do an activity at the wrong time of day it takes more energy. I don’t create at 10am when I’m in my math brain. 

I talk to people about figuring out their creativity circadian rhythms. When do you need your focused mind. When do you need your associative mind.

That’s it. 

None of your points are low but courage was your lowest. That could mean discouragement or self-doubt. But you take so many creative risks — gallery shows, books. How do you steel yourself for creative risks in moments of discouragement? 

I’ve got decent courage. But sometimes being practical interferes with my creative risks. Stepping even more toward creativity is a risk on the horizon. 

But smaller courageous acts I take include putting myself in critiques and inviting people to my shows. These things are scary and it’s hard to put myself out there. But I know these are growing opportunities for me so I do it anyway.

Check out Melina’s exhibit, “Poetic Landscape and Natural Medicine” through March 15th at the Uptown Gallery, 473 25th Street, Oakland.

https://melinamezaphotography.com/