The Life of a Fine Art Photographer: Interview with Sarah Ann Loreth

Sarah Ann Loreth is a fine art photographer who creates thought provoking, eye catching images that are reflective of her innermost feelings.  She strives to develop beautiful, emotive photographs that tell a story of whomever it is capturing...

Let’s start off with a little about you.  Where did you grow up?  Did that influence how you’ve become the artist you are today?

I was born in Florida and lived there for about 10 years, but then moved to MA when I was about 10.  I spent most of my life there until maybe two or three years ago, then relocated to New Hampshire

I am very influenced by my surroundings.  I like to play in the woods, live across the street from a pond and go there a lot.  I also go up to the mountains, somewhere serene and for quiet time.

When did you start photography?

I think I am on my fourth year in June.  I started in 2010.  I got a camera for Christmas one year and eventually got a tripod and remote and started taking self portraits in my kitchen.  Very shy with drawing my curtains, but it has lead into a 365 and developing the style that I have today.

What camera equipment do you use?  Do you have a favorite lens?

I use Canon 5d Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.2L, and Vanguard Alta Pro 263AGH tripod

Where do you prefer to host your work?

Always Flickr.  Flickr is where I started, it’s my heart and my home.  It changed my life. Flickr is my community, my best friends, my community.  They actually sponsor the trip this year.  I write for their blog am a judge for their contests.  We visited the headquarters in San Francisco last year and are going again this year.  It’s a good site, and a great place to display your work.  The community there is fantastic.  It’s also a great source of inspiration and way to meet people.  Though, it’s a two way street, you have to comment on people’s work and get involved.

If you could describe your photography, whether that be your style or overall theme, what would it be?

I tend not to use props very often, I am more emotion based.  I like to create a stillness and opportunity for people to see themselves.  I want them to see the emotion that is expressed in them.  A lot of my images are from my own struggles and how I cope with them.  

I  use color in my images as I think it helps portray the emotion I am trying to have in my photos. I think it helps with the overall style of my work.

Favorite colors to work with?

I tend to work more in blues and yellows, I think.  I have been very drawn more towards that. I have been trying to use warmer photos, but I tend to have a lot more destruction and fire in them.

Where do you find most of your inspiration?  Do you have advice for someone lacking in the ability to develop such interesting ideas?  for some it's takes us a bit longer to fully delve into and discover our inner creativity.

It’s a mixture of the emotions that I am trying to portray.  I like to portray a bit of serenity in my work.  I don’t like it to be straight portraits, they usually will be a little surreal or magical. I also get a lot of inspiration from poetry and literature.  I am constantly scouring the internet for quotes.  I do a lot of reading on sociology and the way people act between each other.

Who is your favorite author?

I have an E.E. Cummings quote tattooed on me, He’s always been one of my favorites.  I just got a Winston Churchill quote on me as well.  I love and read a lot of  Sylvia Plath, E.E. Cummings, and Carl Sagan.  Mostly I have been reading autobiographies. I  find people’s stories interesting. My favorite was Ted Kennedy’s autobiography, that was fantastic.  I like stories of people’s struggles and how they overcome them.  I always find that really interesting.

Would you prefer to develop an image prior to going and shooting, or going out and being inspired by the location?

Well, last summer was a huge test in spontaneity, because I am not.  Not at all.  Impulsive, yes, but not spontaneous.  It’s an easier process for me because it is quicker and helps with the process.  I write down words that go down with the concept, figure out what props, and colors I want to use. It’s a nice blueprint that helps make it goes smoother.

Last year, you and a couple of others traveled across the country; tell us a little about what you were doing and why you devoted a couple of months to living out of your car?

As everything with the boys [Joel Robison and  Shane Black], everything starts as a joke, “It would be fun to travel the country and live out of a van” and then we actually started planning it.  We decided that we always told ourselves, if we had money, what we would do with it.  We would give it away, we would do what we could to give back to the community that has given back to us.

We came out with the idea of hosting workshops and meeting as many people as we can, trying to inspire people to live their dreams.  It’s kind of like, with the tour itself is a huge part of it.  People see that, and if they’re doing it, we can do it to.  There was one person in particular at our workshop.  She was sweet, and she was talking about how she was always so afraid to leave the house and was so anxious.  She had a hard time with people and came to our workshop and since then she’s been traveling around and living her dream too.  That’s what it’s all about. Inspiring people with what they want to do.  

You’re planning on reliving that reality that was created last year again.  What has inspired the lengthy trip once more?

Yes we are doing four months.  We are going from July to the end of October.  Along the way we are hosting 15-16 workshops during those four months.  We are going to Toronto, Boston, Vancouver, Hawaii and so many other places.  We are just trying to go around and help as many people as we can.  They will be two day workshops.  Editing, business, marketing, and copyright infringement for the first and another day of conceptual shooting, just trying to inspire people to do their dreams.                                

You can find out all about the workshops with detailed descriptions here

For those who are lacking the ability to express themselves such as you do, are there any tips to help find themselves?

Be open to anything.  If you keep an open mind and heart, you can find inspiration anywhere.  Just anything really.  You can draw it from emotions, props, landscapes, if you are feeling stuck, you can go through and pick a random word and try to brain map around them.  I usually take an emotion, like happy, and branch off and try to show all the ways happy can be expressed.