Laura Olivia Baker interview
laura olivia baker
Youthfulness and unadulterated beauty that exists in twilight hours, in unpainted faces, along beach shores, and beneath the sunlight.
interview: Isabel Legate
images: Laura Olivia Baker
I'm really interested in the fusion of fashion and fine art. I would like to achieve something within my work that lingers between the two, responding to fashion through subtlety and ambiguity.
Photography has long been a medium of capturing the beauty of fashion in a way that strays from the superficial tendencies of an industry riddled with unhealthy ideals. At the age of 19, Laura Olivia Baker epitomizes this exploration of beauty with her dream-inducing photographs. They capture a sense of youthfulness and unadulterated beauty that exists only in twilight hours, in unpainted faces, along beach shores and beneath the sunlight.
Her photographs kindle a sense of nostalgia that is at once ethereal and raw. She is one of many young, creative-minded individuals who are redefining the fashion industry and creating a less critical image for women through an honest appreciation and exploration of natural beauty. Her use of a point and shoot film camera and lack of post-processing with Photoshop prove Laura has the ability to capture organically-derived beauty in her surroundings.
What is a typical day of shooting like?
Sometimes I take pictures of what is going on around me, documenting moments of fleeting beauty and sometimes I seek beauty by creating moments. If I plan to take pictures I approach it with spontaneity and keep things simple by photographing my friends and not having them wear make up and exploring the location whilst shooting or going on a bike ride.
What prompted you to become interested in photography?
I was fascinated with the cinematography in films like "Morvern Callar" by Lynne Ramsay and "Lying" by M Blash. I really loved the use of light and how it could create really dreamy atmospheres. So I started exploring light by taking pictures and making short films.
If you had to lose your sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing or touch, which would you choose?
Maybe taste, because isn't 75 percent of what we taste derived from our sense of smell?
You're asked to do a shoot for a magazine of your choice, where's it set, what's the styling like and who are the models?
It would be a dream to collaborate with a stylist like Leith Clarke and take pictures for Lula. I would love to shoot somewhere really beautiful like Lake Bled in Slovenia, a Swedish forest or an uninhabited string of islands, and use lots of Rodarte and delicate chiffon's and having someone model that’s pretty cool but really ethereal like Alice Goddard. To take pictures on the set of a Sofia Coppola film would also be amazing.
Is there a particular way you are striving to depict the subjects in your photographs?
I suppose I try to capture moments as I felt them, something that feels raw and honest but also quite dreamy and beautiful.
What was your last nightmare about?
Sea monkeys that grew really big and looked like the cartoon versions on the packaging.
What did you eat for breakfast yesterday?
Porridge and blueberries.
Where would you like to be in ten years?
Exploring the South Pacific islands.
You'll be studying fashion at CSM in the fall, how do you feel your work as a photographer will contribute to what you will produce as a fashion student?
I'm really interested in the fusion of fashion and fine art. I would like to achieve something within my work that lingers between the two, responding to fashion through subtlety and ambiguity. I really love the work of Mark Borthwick and Corrine Day, they created something of a visual dialogue between fashion and fine art in the 90's. This resonating of fields is something I'm really drawn to and I love how these ideas are still being pushed by artists such as Lina Scheynius shooting for Vogue ect.
Do your photos undergo any treatment before you publish them? If so, what's that process like?
I don't photoshop anything. All of my images are straight out of the camera but I do select what to show and what not to show and curate the images in a way that juxtaposes subjects and contexts.
In what ways do you see young people like yourself impacting the fashion industry?
I guess we are all really lucky that the internet has allowed everything to become much more open. These days fashion capitals are much less relevant as anyone can create and distribute from anywhere. Its a great platform and a lot of young creatives have really benefited from that and created some really cool things such as 'Fatale Femmes' by Laura-Lyn Petrick and Petra Collins. Websites can be created instantly and we don't have to worry about finding advertisers, there's a lot more freedom nowadays. Emerging photography can become a lot more honest because there are no limitations. The internet has become a vital platform for emerging creatives. Its made everything much more open and drawn up so many connections between people and places and has enabled a lot of talented people with links to the industry. And in a sense this platform is slowly becoming the industry itself. The internet has enabled me to discover the work of some very talented artists that without this self publishing platform I may have never known existed. I love how the internet can allow you to be so far from everything yet amongst the center of it all.
