Laura Hynd Talk

Laura Hynd has been a practicing photographer for the past five years. Her work has appeared in weekend magazines, such as the Telegraph's magazine. Hynd also exhibits her work widely.

Education

Hynd spent two years at an art college before completing a three year graphic design degree. She said her graphic design work was constructed around photographs: she would take a photograph and design the graphics based on what was within the image. She describes her education as "visual" and says she comes from a creative background and family. 

Employment

She first worked as a creative designer before moving on to being a picture researcher/editor. However, she became physically ill and was away from work a lot. During this period of time her work was looking for people to ask for voluntary redundancy, something she took up due to her illness. After this, she began assisting photographers and bought herself an old Hasselblad.

With the Hasselblad, Hynd began photographing plants, gardens and the outdoors, stating that she liked the colours and subtleties of unresponsive beings.

Hynd created a hand-printed and bound portfolio before heading off on a self-assigned project in Massachusetts to photograph a organic farm with charity associations. This project was shot on the Hasselblad too, and she developed the film in New York before coming back to England. While there, she edited her selection and contacted the Telegraph picture desk for a meeting on her return. At the Telegraph meeting, they commissioned her to fly out to Italy and photograph a vineyard. Before the vineyard commission, she was also asked to photograph a gardener for their weekend magazine. Hynd stated that she was really nervous before the gardener shoot - she was physically sick beforehand, used 8 rolls of film and spent more money than she was paid, but it paid off and she kept on getting commissions. 

Websites

Hynd also talked about websites and said she looked at photographer's websites as part of her job at a picture desk, as research for her own website, and also for pleasure. She thinks that they should be easy to navigate and easy to look at - with possibly no Flash.

Hynd covered a story on pure energy in the Shetland Isles, a task that took 2 1/2 - 3 days. Besides shooting the required images, she also covered the history of energy in the Shetland Isles, and the publication ended up running pictures that they didn't commission.

Hynd has also shot a few magazine covers for the Telegraph, including subjects such as Nancy Dell'olio, Tom Hollander, and Emily Mortimer. She said that they tend to give her "diva" characters that she takes natural portraits of. Hynd was honest and said that she doesn't use lights because she doesn't know how to, and that she prefers natural light.

Hynd says that she is in control of all editorial and publishing work, and that this is disconnected from Burnham Niker, her agent. Hynd has also done a few advertising jobs, mostly including food - for example, Melrose + Morgan, the grocery. Hynd states that she will only shoot real food and that she doesn't do a lot of ad work, as "I want a nice life with no stress".

Personal Work
As Hynd's career was becoming more successful, her personal life began to go downhill, which resulted in her project The Letting Go. Hynd discovered that she could use photography to deal with her personal problems. She believes that it doesn't matter if people see photographer's personal work and it gets "out there", it's about getting it out of your system. 

In terms of completing a personal photography project, Hynd says to express yourself, to be honest, and think about what it is that you want, not what others want from you.

The Letting Go is presented as stills and also in a slideshow featuring music by Portishead. Hynd went for music with lyrics instead of an instrumental piece as the lyrics added to the content of the project. 

Hynd's current personal project is about her family history and past events, visiting places that were a big part of her childhood. The project is currently ongoing but has been exhibited at Photomonth. 

Hynd mostly uses film and says that unless the client has a preference, she will shoot in film. She also noted that picture editors are aware that not all photographers can afford to use film. Hynd now works shooting editorials and teaches, but says her personal work keeps her being creative.

"Being a photographer is brilliant because it takes you out of your comfort zone."