Featured Artist: Laura Ward

Artist: Laura Ward

Location: London

Featured Series: 'I Am Trying To Find You'

Taken in a Belgian tunnel with a Diana Mini

SFUK: Tell us a little about yourself and your background in photography.

LW: I’ve been taking pictures since I was 15. I started with film using an old Pentax my dad gave me. I always wanted to be a writer and started very much using photography as a way to supplement words. In my early twenties I realised I wasn’t particularly good at writing and preferred visuals. I’ve been shooting ever since. It’s my creative outlet for channelling everything into. I occasionally curate exhibitions but I try to exhibit something at least once a year.

A double exposure taken in Paris on a Sprocket Rocket.

SFUK: Why do you shoot film, have you always shot film & do you switch between digital and film?

LW: I went through a long phase of shooting digital but always had film on the go. It was a cost thing during my twenties. I still do shoot digitally occasionally but it’s not my preferred medium. I am drawn very much to imperfections, light, textures - everything that film is superior for.

Taken on a Konica C35 from a boat in Marseilles

SFUK: Who inspires you, any favourite people or places you frequently go to for inspiration?

LW: I am inspired by conversations with other artists, music and experiences. For the last 3 years my work has centred on the themes of journeys, identity metamorphosis and water. Some of the pictures that are featured in this article are taken from a series called ‘I am trying to find you’. It’s a very personal series about trying incredibly hard to meet a particular person. I still haven’t met them yet, so it’s an on-going thing. I went on a journey to places from my childhood, to new cities, to quiet spaces and around my familiar neighbourhood. The series has a part two and three which are very different. Part two might not see the light of day but part three is almost finished and it’s probably the work I am most proud of.

Taken with a Canon AE-1 in Dungeness a few months ago.

SFUK: How would you describe your style of shooting?

LW: Usually very unplanned, emotional and rough around the edges.

Taken on a really bad day in central London. I used a Holga Pinhole

lens on this but I can’t recall the camera body.

SFUK: If you could have any camera in the world, which would you choose and why?

LW: I have a lot of cameras – many of which break because they’re old or made of plastic. I currently have everything I need but I’d love a small Leica. One that won’t break easily. I’m not someone who needs the best of everything. I have all bases covered at the moment.

Taken with a Canon AE-1 from a boat in Northumberland.

SFUK: Do you have any plans for your next project?

LW: Part three of my ‘I am trying to find you’ series is under the working title of ‘Serpents’. I’m just finishing up the editing and talking to a few people. I want to put it physically out somehow. It’s been a really important piece of work for me, so I need to do it justice. Even if it’s only for me.