Sunday, January 26, 2014

Meet the Mavenistas! Lili Love of LilI Love Photography

Lili shares for us on Fridays and heads up the Snap Maven U.K. division.
1. Tell us about yourself…
I am a “Mar” to three children Daisy, Phoenix and Leaf, 
and have been married happily-ever-after for 18 years. 
We live in England in the suburbs outside London. 
We are in the process of building an eco house and we cannot wait to have a proper home again,
 it has been a very long process!
I am a wanna-be surfer, knitter and stitcher - extremely rubbish at all three, but always persevering. 
I love walking in the countryside, drinking tea out of flasks, reading and baking, 
although making time for these things is unreachable most days.
Right now I am finding my feet as a parent to older children (they are 11,14 & 17).
2. What ignited your passion for photography, and what fuels it right now…
I have always been overly aware of the passing of time 
and I think photography has been my way of dealing with this.
By the time I was 17 I felt that photography was all that I wanted to do 
and I started doing a photography A-Level. 
At the time (1987) it felt a much more male dominated subject and being dyslexic and low in confidence
 I found the technical side of photography completely overwhelming. 
I became so intimidated by anything to do with photography 
that I reached the point where I could not talk to anyone about it or even go into a camera shop.
 Regrettably, I dropped out.
Over 20 years had passed before I finally went back and took the same course. 
I was in my 30’s but ridiculously still terrified, I explained my fears about being “too stupid” 
to my new teacher who told me to come at it from the artistic side 
and worry about the technical stuff later 
and sent me off to look at the work of Julia Margaret Cameron and Sally Mann, 
for me that was a life changing moment. 
I completely overcame my fears, discovering somewhat surprisingly
 (and despite everything I had told myself) that in fact I love learning, 
and that for me being-able-to-create is a central part of being-alive 
(or at least being-sane).
3. My Camera bag,
I shoot with a Canon 5d mark2 and my 50mm lens is almost permanently stuck to the front.
 I do have other lenses, and even a selection of old film cameras
 that presently just sit around looking pretty. 
So this year I have challenged myself to use a different lens or camera each month. 
Next to the 50mm, the lens I use most often 
is probably the 70-200, but I do struggle with the weight of it!
4. Dream project or shoot?
I have two. Ever since I fell in love with Julia Margaret Cameron 
I have wanted to learn to use the wet plate collodion process. 
This is something I cannot shake, just thinking about it makes my stomach tighten and my hands tingle.
Another long-term wish of mine has been to shoot in the water. 
Over ten years ago we stayed in a little cottage in Cornwall, and found there 
a book of beautiful photographs taken by a local photographer.   
This series of atmospheric images captured just a few hours of what must have been a glorious day, 
spent with his children in the ocean and
rock pools of the area. 
I decided then that that was something I would do—eventually. 
But life got ever busier and kids ever more expensive, etc.
and ten years later I still hadn’t found an opportunity. 
Until this past summer, that is, when a friend lent me his old film diving camera.
 I was about as happy as can be, in my wetsuit, on a Welsh beach with this bright yellow camera. 
I cannot wait to get back there next summer.
5. Challenges...
Organisation, business mindedness and I need to be a little bossier – 
I am not massively comfortable directing people.

6. Creative nemesis...
My dad is a pianist and my mum is a painter.
I love music and it is such a huge part of my life, it breaks my heart that I cannot sing a note or play an instrument. In the summer we spend such lovely nights where my husband and the kids sing, him and Daisy on guitar… I wish more than anything I could join in. They bought me a ukelale for my birthday last year but someone sat on it before I learnt a thing.
And I have always wished i could draw and paint, my head is packed full of images that want to be painted. I can “see” them but that is where my creativity stops.

7. Is there any one thing you wish someone had told you 
at the very beginning of your photography journey.
That I did not need anyone’s permission.



To see more of Lili's fabulous imagery, you can catch up with her here...

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