Eye on Artisans - Levans Photography

A new member joined the Homefront team (Etsy street team of military spouses) recently and I've had the pleasure of chatting with her in our forum.

Her photography really caught my eye, and since she's new to Etsy, I thought I'd share her with you. She thankfully agreed.

Born in England, and married to an American soldier, they are currently living in Germany. This gives her access to some subject matter some people can only dream of seeing in real life. She has a way of capturing everyday objects in a unique and beautiful way that is wonderfully appealing.


Where do you derive inspiration from?

In terms of photographers my biggest inspiration in style has come William Eggleston (the father of colour photography) and Martin Parr (great photographer but a complete ---hole to talk to) but generally I just see stuff. My husband always comments on how I'm off taking a photo of a piece of dirt or something, when ever we're travelling I'm always way behind everyone else taking photos. Right now I'm trying to do some conceptual stuff like with the camera's on the park bench, and my inspiration for this comes from seeing the amazing work produced by other photographers and wanting to have a go.

Do you take your camera everywhere?

I do sometimes, but I hate leaving it in the car all the time, especially since american cars can get targetted over here. If we go somewhere for the day or anywhere travelling it goes everywhere with me, but not to and from base. Saying this I have got home before and immediately gone out with the camera to photograph something I noticed on my drive and wished I had my camera with me.

What is your favoite technique or style?

I'm not sure I have a favourite but generally I like to shot things straight on so the subject matter is flat to the camera. Placing my camera on the ground or very low to it can make for an insteresting angle, and I love straight lines. Also I tend to like my subject matter off centre, not big on symmetry in my photos. But saying all this it doesn't apply to everything, some stuff you see is just perfect from where you're standing.

Does your life as a military spouse affect your life as a photographer?

Completely!!! I was working in a high school as a photography technician the year before I got married and shooting sports photography for a company on weekends. Then we pcs'd to Germany and I got a job working at Chilis and my photography was kind of put on hold. I would still take photos when travelling but that was it. So last year I saved up for my Nikon D300 (it's so pretty) and this year I bought my new laptop. My new years resolution was to start a photography business, and hopefully slowly I'm getting there. If I can get it up and running it's the perfect business for me to move with as I can do it from home, and bartending can supplliment it for the moment. As any military wife knows there are times when you just get left in the background, not intentionally but you're the support system, going wherever they go and having a career of your own is hard. Overseas job opportunities are limited so you have to work with what's available, but hopefully this (etsy, 1000markets etc ...) will allow me to follow my dreams wherever uncle sam takes us.

Is there another artisan of any craft on Etsy that you admire?

You know I admire so many of the different crafts ... I now want to learn to sew and have a go at making soap. Both of these could turn into epic failers but at least I'll have tried. There's so much creativity on here, everywhere you look someone has done something to make you go wow. From crocheted hats to graphics to the other photographers out there. It's slowly becoming my new shopping addiction, and it's all unique and different.

Anything else you'd like to talk about?

I love the old cliche of "one moment in time" that a single shot can suggest one thing whilst a frame seconds later another. I love that photography allows me to explore the world and notice things I would never have seen before. And I love that you could ask 10 people to photograph the same object and no 2 photos would be the same. So I guess you could say that my photographs are a glimpse into my world, kinda like you're seeing exactly what i'm seeing at that moment in time.

Thank you Laura for allowing me this interview.

Visit her Etsy store for more beautiful fine art photography.

Levans Photography