LOST
FREEDOM Volume 1 | issue VIii
photo by angela wu
CONTENTS 004 010 016 022 028 034
Jeen Na
Interview with the 17 year old photographer from Ohio
Strife, Smoke, & Stripes Shot by Alison L.
Burningthemoon
Interview with the 14 year old visual artist from Shanghai
Beth Parnaby
17 year old photographer from England
Amanda Mabel
Interview with the 18 year old photographer from Singapore
Primavera
Shot by Kay Rodriguez
042 050 056 064 070 076
Sarah Michallek
Interview with the 18 year old photographer from Germany
Abeera Khan
17 year old photographer from New York
Motives Shot by Katherine Thomas
Lena R.
16 year old photographer from Germany
Anna Williams
Interview with the17 year old photographer from Georgia
The Runaway
Shot by Emelia Taveras
082 084 092 098 104
Amelia Oakley
Interview with the 16 year old photographer from England
Xandler Lloyd
21 year old photographer from England
Regina Leah
16 year old photographer from Germany
The Journey Home Shot by Jean Lin
Amy Hasel
Interview with the 17 year old photographer from Australia
staff: editor in chief & layout designer Angela Wu co-editors Natalie Chyi Shae Wu
112 118 124 128 132
Mariah Reece
18 year old photographer from Washington
Romance in the Air
Shot by Alexandra Werhan
Marisa Chafetz
17 year old photographer from New York
Alena Terlecki
17 year old photographer from Canada
Staff Picks
A selection of photos from the Lost Freedom flickr group
photographers Alison L. Jean Lin Kay Rodriguez Emelia Taveras Katherine Thomas Alexandra Werhan cover photography by Katherine Thomas
Jeen Na 17 YEARS OHIO http :// www . flickr . com / photos / simplycasual
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? JEEN NA: I’m 17 and I currently live in Ohio in the States. LF: When did you first begin taking photos? How has your work changed since then? JN: I first started taking photos in middle school with a pretty basic camera. Back then I just took pictures of my friends and random things I thought were interesting. Now I shoot mainly portraiture and a lot of my work is conceptual. LF: What do you try to express through your photos? Is there a certain style you try to achieve? JN: I don’t really have a clear meaning in my photos. I pretty much just try to make them aesthetically pleasing to others and myself. I don’t know if there’s a certain style I’m going for in my photography, but if I had to name one it’d probably be something surreal. A lot of my photographs are based off of dreams that I have.
Issue VIII //
005
LF: How has photography had an impact on your daily life? JN: Photography has changed my life a lot. I wouldn’t say it was a huge change, but it is definitely a big part of my life now. I get a lot of recognition for my photography, and lately I’ve finally begun to make money off of it! It took a long time to get to where I am, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made so far I suppose. However, there’s definitely a massive space for improvement. LF: Who or what inspires you? JN: When I first began photography, golden hour photos and very dreamlike photos were the style. That’s probably where all my current ideas come from. I don’t exactly have anything or anyone that really inspires me as I don’t really look around for inspiration, but I think that the photographer who has inspired me the most with all of my work would probably be Lauren Withrow. She’s my favorite photographer of all time. I absolutely love her photos and I really want to meet her. She’s like my idol.
Issue VIII //
007
Issue VIII //
009
strife, smoke, and stripes shot by Alison L.
model: Erika Perry
Issue VIII //
011
Issue VIII //
013
Issue VIII //
015
burningthemoon 14 YEARS SHANGHAI, CHINA http://burningthemoon.deviantart.com/
Issue VIII //
017
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? BURNINGTHEMOON: Hey there, I am 14 years old. I was born in San Francisco, California but I am currently living in Shanghai, China. LF: When and why did you first become interested in art? How has your work changed since then? BTM: I have been indulged in art ever since I could pick up a pencil. When I was 13 I decided to take art seriously and work harder to improve. I have transitioned to digital media while still drawing on traditional media. I began to develop my technical skills that avail my focus on realism/ semi-realism. LF: How would you describe your style? What do you try to convey through your pieces? BTM: I try not to worry about my style, yet I’m often predisposed to struggle with identity. I like to integrate a bit of conceptual art to the importance of technical ability in my drawings. I avoid the commodification of art. To me, best materials or tools do not equal profound effects of success in art. It’s all about blood, sweat, and tears. LF: What is your favorite medium? Why? BTM: I do not have a distinct medium I favour the most. However my favorite mediums include watercolour, pencil, photoshop and oil painting. Although I have never oil painted before I think I would like to try it sometime. My strengths tend to lie with illustrated works such as CG art, drawing or painting. LF: Who or what inspires you? BTM: This list could get perennial but usually other artists around the world inspire me. They are the ones I strive to emulate. Certain moments in life also ignite my creativity.
Issue VIII //
019
“
To me, best materials or tools do not equal profound effects of success in art. It’s all about blood, sweat, and tears.
“
Issue VIII //
021
Beth
ENGLAND
Parnaby
17 YEARS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethparnaby
023
Issue VIII //
Issue VIII //
025
“
“
There’s something more to a photograph than just it having pretty colours, etc. I guess it’s become an outlet for me.
Issue VIII //
027
AMANDA M A B E L
18 YEARS S I N G A P O R E
h t t p :// w w w . f l i c k r . c o m / p h o t o s / a m a n d a m a b e l /
Issue VIII //
029
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? AMANDA MABEL: I’m eighteen and I’m from Singapore. LF: When did you first begin taking photos? How has your work changed since then? AM: I first began taking photos seriously during the start of the holidays in November 2011. I used to really love doing a pale style, very white and soft and desaturated, but I’ve moved on since then to explore vivid colours, and also extremely bright sunset photographs. Now I mostly do a mixture of what I feel like and whatever I’ve just learnt. LF: What do you try to express through your photography? Is there a certain style you try to achieve? AM: The thing I strive most to get is frozen parts of time that you can’t see ordinarily in reality, like hair in midmotion. Our eyes aren’t fast enough for us to process what we see in all situations, and only a photograph allows us to go back and look at it again. I
don’t have a fixed style because I haven’t found it yet. I don’t think I’ve been doing photography long enough to find what are the kind of photographs that are really ‘me’. LF: How does photography impact your daily life? AM: I see things in a particular framing now, and know beforehand if it’ll be a good photograph or not. Such as with colours, light and location, it just takes one look to decide if it will make or break my shot. I suppose it all comes from prior experience. LF: Who or what inspires you? AM: Other photographers, like Nirrimi Hakanson, Eleanor Hardwick and Rona Keller inspire me. How they’ve achieved so much at such a young age and how it proves that hard work pays off, in the end.
Issue VIII //
031
Issue VIII //
033
primavera shot
by
Kay
Rodriguez
h t t p : / / w w w . f l i c k r . c o m / l i k e f i re f l i e s
model:
Ellie
Rodriguez
Issue VIII //
035
Issue VIII //
037
Issue VIII //
039
Issue VIII //
041
18 YEARS BIELEFELD, GERMANY ht tp://www.facebook.com/sarahmichallekfotografie/
sarah michallek
Issue VIII //
043
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? SARAH MICHALLEK: I am 18 years old and based in a town in Germany called Bielefeld. LF: When did you first begin taking photos? How has your work changed since then? SM: One of my parents’ former passions was photography, so I’ve been in contact with their analogue and later digital cameras and always liked to take some snapshots on birthday parties of my family or other events since I was a little child. I guess it’s 1 ½ years now since I tried photo with a little plan behind it. It was in Russia with an old cathedral next to it a few colour curves, tones, contrast etc. atmosphere.
to take my first a photo of a lake and I only edited to intensify the
Some months later I bought my first DSLR camera and started to make more elaborate concepts before taking the photo, acquired more functions in photo editing programs, got in contact with other photographers and their work and found out which direction of photography is right for me and makes me happy. At the beginning I took photos of landscapes and items and with the time I grew to like having people and faces in front of my camera. In the course of time I got more certain about what I want to do and my style developed more or less in its own way. LF: How does photography impact your daily life? SM: Usually there is not a day on which I don’t have a yen to take photos. When there isn’t a model available for me and when I’ve enough time I simply catch my camera, tripod and remote release, go outside and take some self portraits. Often it’s only useless / senseless stuff which is not worth publishing but sometimes I’m successful and managed it to transform my ideas and thoughts into a photo. Holding a camera in my hands and pulling the trigger really helps me forgetting sorrows and coming out of the daily stress from school and other duties which can be totally freeing.
Issue VIII //
045
LF: Do you see your work as more of a documentation or experiences or emotions? SM: I absolutely do not see my photos as a documentation of a life, for example like many people who do a so called “365-days” project what I don’t really like because in my opinion the photos become uninteresting and superficial when you are under the pressure to bring out a good picture every single day. That’s why I only take photos when I am in the right mood and I also only photograph people and things which I really want to. I think I can say that I use photography to express my emotions as a compensation / balance to my daily life. Perhaps I will be also able to combine this passion with my prospective working life, that would be a real dream for me.
LF: Who or what inspires you? SM: Spending time with my closest and longest friends. My muse. The beauty of nature. The silence in forests, the twinkling sunshine on lakes and the rush of the sea, the mightiness of mountains and the light of sunsets. The elegance and honesty of horses. My biggest photographer idols, Grit Siwonia and ThÊo Gosselin. A few German bands to which I have special memories. LF: If you could photograph any person, dead or alive, who would it be and why? SM: I don’t have the desire to photograph a special person until yet. I already found my personal muse and at the moment I search for my models depending on my current attitude. The model has to fit to my changing feelings.
Issue VIII //
047
Issue VIII //
049
Abeera Khan 17 YEARS NEW h t t p
://
a h k p
.500
p x
.
YORK
c o m
/
Issue VIII //
051
Issue VIII //
053
WHY DO YOU CREATE? Well, we stroll ourselves through each passing day consisting of all these little moments. Moments you can never get back. Moments you can never remake provoking the same spontaneous emotions they did the very first time. But what these moments can be are captured. With a simple ‘snap’.
I attempt to capture everything around me in a pleasing and creative way. I enjoy the challenge and the ability to experiment. I take portraits because they are an excellent medium for recording events and feelings of life. I do travel photography because I believe it is a way of making me look at where I am and what there is, and see the beauty in it. I believe is expressions and emotions. I believe in the beauty of a real moment. Not something so set up it’s almost commercial. What’s real about that? It’s those raw moments with honest emotions that give you the best results. This is why I create.
Issue VIII //
055
motives shot by Katherine Thomas
Issue VIII //
057
Issue VIII //
059
Issue VIII //
063
Lena R.
16 YEARS GERMANY ht tp :// www . flickr . com /_- photography -_/
Issue VIII //
065
Issue VIII //
067
Anna Williams 17 YEARS ATLANTA, GEORGIA http://www.flickr.com/photos/annakwilliams/
Issue VIII //
069
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? ANNA WILLIAMS: I am 17 from Atlanta, Georgia LF: When did you first begin photography? How has your work changed since then? AW: I first began photography when I got my first camera for Christmas 2010. I didn’t even ask for it and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. My photography has changed a whole lot. My ideas, editing style, and the overall outcome are all very different from when I started. I feel as if each picture I take I am getting a little better each time. LF: What do you try to express through your photos? Is there a certain style you try to achieve? AW: I want to portray the most emotion that I possibly can in one shot. Whether it be happy or sad, I want the emotion to be strong and clear. My photos are the best representation of who I am.
“
MY PHOTOS ARE THE BEST
REPRESENTATION
“
OF WHO I AM.
LF: Who or what inspires you? AW: Literature inspires me the most. I see authors, painters, and poets create stunning work. They give me that extra push to create something that I never thought I could. As for photographers, all of them inspire me. They all have ideas to share and put their best work out there. LF: If you could photograph anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why? AW: Martin Luther King. He had a dream and he shared it with everyone. He changed so much that needed to be changed. In the end, he was nothing short of achieving his dream and for that he is such an inspiration.
Issue VIII //
071
Issue VIII //
073
the runaway shot by Emelia Taveras model: Jennifer Cho
Issue VIII //
075
Issue VIII //
077
Issue VIII //
079
amelia Oakley 16 years ht tp
England
://cargocollective.com/ameliaoakley/
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? AMELIA OAKLEY: I’m sixteen from London, England LF: When did you first begin taking photos? How has your work changed since then? AO: I first began in October of 2009 and inevitably my style and technique have changed and developed. I initially only had access to a point and shoot camera so just spent months experimenting with composition, learning to handle light and shooting a lot of self portraits. My work has become much darker in both tone and atmosphere, now, I am more confident in my ability and whilst I still take risks and constantly experiment they are no longer blind, simply for the sake of discovering what that button will do. Now, my photographs contain a lot more of me. LF: What do you try to express through your work? Is there a certain style you try to achieve? AO: I always attempt to create stories in my work, whether they are there in the first place or not. What I have always loved about art is it’s creation of new worlds; within photography I can take a moment or a story and change it, manipulate it, I can deceive the viewer if I wish, or I can simply document a moment and allow the viewer to create their own story to accompany it.
Issue VIII //
081
LF: How does fashion play a role on your photography? AO Within my fashion and editorial work obviously fashion is a huge influence, and a lot of my work is inspired by the 70s sort of fashion I like and wear. The revolutionist fashion photography of Duffy, Bailey and Donovan is always something I subconsciously reference within my work not always in terms of style but the punch and attitude of their approach, I’m a fool for a black and white fashion shot. LF: Who or what inspires you? AO: I am always asked this question and am never truly sure how to answer it simply because inspiration comes from everywhere, from other photographers, my mood, the smell of the air on the way home, anything. Inspiration is so hard to define and I suppose often that’s why it’s so hard to come by and how sometimes you can suffer month long lulls of inspiration followed by an influx of the stuff. Mostly I draw my inspiration from the things I love the most, Film, Cinematography and 20th Century Street Photography.
Issue VIII //
083
Issue VIII //
085
Xander Lloyd 21 YEARS h t t p
://
x a n d e r l l o y d
ENGLAND
.
c o m
/
Issue VIII //
087
Why do you create? After borrowing some of my friends’ cameras, I found that I really enjoyed taking photos and bought my first SLR at the end of 2010. Since then I have tried to carry my camera everywhere I go and shoot from the hip. My camera is small and subtle enough that I can take it almost anywhere I go, and I am always looking for anything interesting to photograph. I like the idea of capturing photographs of candid scenes around me, which means most of my photography is of the street but also very diverse and most importantly personal to me.
Issue VIII //
089
REGINA LEAH 16 YEARS http
GERMANY
://reginaleah.blogspot.de
Issue VIII //
091
I create because photography has grown inside of me and is now a part of my identity. It is no longer a hobby or a passion anymore. It belongs to me just as my skin, my eyes or my heart does. At first, photography was my way of capturing emotions, memories, moments and the beauty of nature. Now I don’t even need a reason anymore. There is no reason, other than I am now breathing photography in and out, whatever I do and wherever I go.
Photography can be my diary or the visualization of my dreams but more than anything photography is the language of my soul. Issue VIII //
093
the journey home shot by Jean Lin
Issue VIII //
097
Amy 17 YEARS
Hasel
AUSTRALIA
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amyrosephotography
103
Issue VIII //
LOST FREEDOM: How old are you and where are you from? AMY HASEL: I am 17 years old and I am from Perth, Western Australia. LF: When did you first begin taking photos? What first got you interested? AH: I began at age 12, when I was enrolled in an exlusive photography course in my last year of primary school. They chose me because I was strong in art. It began with macro pictures of life, flowers, objects, but my interest in portraits came from exposure to creative portraits on the internet, especially those of Lara Jade. LF: How does photography impact your daily life? AH: It used to impact my life dramatically when I took on the challenge of a 365 project in 2010. I was doing it everyday, thinking of new ideas everyday. These days I tend to work at my own pace, balancing school and the things I love to do. I spend a fair amount of time when I am not taking or editing photos, surfing flickr for inspiration. LF: What do you try to express through your work? Is there a certain style you try to achieve? AH: I mostly try to express emotion or some inner environment though
symbolism and colour. A lot of what I do is two toned, light and dark, which is symbolic of the goodness and evil of man. The backgrounds I try to create come from some kind of other world. I wouldn’t say I am trying to correspond with a certain style, I just make my photos the way that I see in my head. LF: Who or what inspires you? AH: What inspires me most is actually pain and the things that I can’t express in daily life. As far as who, the list is infinite. The biggest ones would be from Flickr. We are like a community and I find that great photographers on there are really integrated, and it’s flattering when some of my favourites seem to like my work as well. There are too many to name. LF: What three words would you say best describe your work? AH: Emotive, contrasting, sunshiny (ha ha) LF: Where do you see yourself, regarding photography, in 5 years? AH: I see myself photographing the people of the Himalayan mountains.
Issue VIII //
105
Issue VIII //
107
Reece
18 YEARS || WASHINGTON http :// facebook . com / pages / mariah - lindsay - photography
Mariah
Issue VIII //
109
Issue VIII //
111
Issue VIII //
113
Issue VIII //
115
romance in the air shot by Alexandra Jo
http://www.alexandrajo.com/
model: Trisha Hammond // Makeup/Styling: Alexandra Werhan
Issue VIII //
117
Issue VIII //
119
Marisa Chafetz
17 YEARS NEW YORK
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marisachafetzphoto
123
Issue VIII //
Issue VIII //
125
WHY DO YOU CREATE?
I create because it helps me to experience. I live in a world full of so much beauty and wonder it seems a shame not to experience as much as I can. I can create a scenario that I never would have been in, but with my camera in my hand I feel as though I can suddenly understand it. With my images I can capture the emotions of so many that I myself have never felt before. Life passes by and people take little things for granted but when one can feel through an image, moments come to life. Photographing forces me to appreciate every detail for what is it and I would never trade it for the world.
Issue VIII //
127
Alena
T e r l ec k i 17 YEARS C A N A D A
http :// www . wix . com / alenaterlecki / photography /
Issue VIII //
129
Issue VIII //
131
STAFF
1 4
2 5
PICKS
3 6
7
Issue VIII //
133
8
9
12
photos
13
taken
by:
1. Nicole // 2. Lina F. // 3. Savannah Daras // 4. Samuel Gbasai 5. Ariellah // 6. Laia Flynn // 7. Abby Billington // 8. Monica Salomon 9. Joel Sossa // 10. Ingrid Wang // 11. Ana Jonessy // 12. Birgitt Surma 13. Sofie Olejnik // 14. Emma Lauren // 15. Samantha Elizabeth // 16. Emily
10
14
11
15
16
Issue VIII //
135
lost freedom
M a g a z i n e