Hiya, what's your preferred name and pronouns, and whose country do you live on?
Hey, I'm Laura and my pronouns are she/they. I am living on Awabakal land and spent a large majority of my life nearby on Wonnarua land.
2. What's your rig rundown?
Honestly, this is nothing insane or special in the grand scheme of things probably, I have been shooting on whatever point and shoot I have been able to get my hands on over the years by searching Depop or the likes to be honest lol!
Currently, I shoot mostly with my Pentax Espio 120Mi. When I shoot 35mm, I like to usually have about 3 rolls of whatever I’m shooting on - I seem to prefer Kodak Ultramax 400 or Gold 200 currently but hoping I can get my hands onto some more Portra moving forward too.
Before December last year, I was shooting 35mm with my Pentax Iq Zoom Ezy-R before it died on me, whilst also failing to use my beloved Fujifilm Cardia Mini TIARA enough despite how much I love that camera!
3. How did you get in to shooting live music?
This came about in a real fun and authentic way for me it felt like. I started using Kodak disposable cameras in early 2019 because I liked the way film photos looked and I wanted to be able to be able to remember the moments in my life, I'd often spend a lot of my childhood and teen years looking at the family photo albums and falling in love with how the photos looked comparatively to a photo in today's day and age.
When starting out in 2019, I was 18 going on 19 and I was studying full-time at uni, plus working a cruisey movie cinema job - being surrounded by other creative minded people, we all seemed to be drawn to live music and the best way to see as many acts as possible for a decent price in pre-covid times was music festivals, so we'd all go together. That’s where I started out - Disposable Kodak film cameras at music festivals because I wanted to capture memories with my mates and the acts I'd see, otherwise I knew I'd probably forget a lot! This eventually bled into other shows I’d attend - whether it was bands at The Cambridge Hotel (RIP Cambo) or a three day long music festival weekend driving 7 hours to get there, I’d make sure I had a camera with me to capture it all.
Pretty quickly from there, the camera shop I was sending off my rolls with deemed me a regular and within a few months, one of the staff there had found a working camera, a Canon Sureshot Owl PF, and gave me it for free. Shout out to Jacob from Camerahouse, he really kickstarted my love for it all from that point on. I've never really turned back.
4. What/who are some of your influences in photography?
Honestly, I do not find myself able to rattle off specific names in terms of who has influenced my specific "style" or way of going about photography - I kinda have just developed that myself over time I think? If I have one? But in saying that, I know when I first learnt about the concept of music photography, Pat O’Hara (@patohara) and Will Johnstone (@a_w.johnstone) were two photographers that really made me realise how much can be captured in the scene by photographers and I admired it. A lot.
In present day, my influences for who keep me taking photos, keep me passionate about the hobby and motivate me to not overthink this whole thing are my partner Jack (@thesaddestday), my mates Bea (@bearuby.film), Mac (@fecklessfilm), Connor (@crosscheckedmedia) and Maddi (@legionsfan1996) alongside my bestest friend in the world Genevieve.
But also, I am influenced by everybody that attends shows that is either femme-presenting or gender non-conforming who simply do not give a single fuck about what everyone else is thinking and saying when in a room full of people - the kind that are authentically themselves regardless of who is around them at a show or out and about - That is something really admirable to me and a quality I look for in people I surround myself with. It influences me to take that approach and mindset when I am taking photos.
5. Do you have a favourite show that you've photographed, or a favourite memory from a gig you've shot? Or maybe a particular favourite photograph that you've taken?
Turnstile at the Metro in Sydney this year - shoutout to @beastmode.world for booking the show. It was an insane show and the energy was so so so contagious in that room. I took what I think is probably one of my best photos that night which was lucky, considering I was standing at the front of a stage with no barrier and had about 150+ people use my shoulder that night to hoist themselves up onto the stage to stagedive. The show was insane and the memories attached to that particular show mean a lot to me.
6. What else do you like to photograph outside of live music?
I really love to capture my life and those in it - especially taking photos of my friends, I love going out with everyone and being able to whip out my camera and they are accepting of the fact I want to take their photo in that moment. I do that a lot when it’s something that catches my eye or it’s a moment I really want to make sure I remember forever to be honest.
Besides my friends though, I love taking photos of nature, old and interesting looking buildings, animals and anything that will serve as a nice memory to look back on. I am very nostalgic and sentimental if you cannot tell haha.
7. How can folks reach out to you if they'd like to get in touch?
To get in touch with me currently, my DMs are open via insta @urpainisminen0w. I am looking into alternatives in the future if I find it too difficult to manage the DMs (as I suck at checking even just my personal IG dms lol!).
Laura's portrait credit: @thesaddestday
