"It didn’t matter whose photos were better, what mattered was that creating them made me happy."
In an ever-flowing stream of new content being created and shared, it's not difficult to be lost within the crowd. Even in the world of photography, individual and unique to the creator, there is an undeniable competition to see who stands out in a crowd and makes an image for themselves. Photographer Audrey Taylor (@entrxnced) has done exactly this. Her work is unique in style and distinctive of her vision, making her stand out in a crowd of thousands of creators. Recently, I had a chance to talk to Audrey about her life as a photographer and student, and what it means to balance these pursuits.
Like many of us in 2012, with a new platform for sharing creations and an eased way to execute ideas, an interest in creating edits arose. Instagrammers such as Annegien Schilling used Instagram to share these elaborate edits, advertising her usage of only apps and appealing to many at the seemingly simple and accessibility of it. Like many, Audrey was inspired. "I first got into photo editing when I was maybe 11, after finding @fetching_tigerss on Instagram. (Seeing her photoshop herself with a giraffe or make herself fly had 11 year old me INSPIRED). I created my own account and posted photos taken on my phone. This led to me asking for a real camera for Christmas, and after I got one, I slowly began to turn from edits to actual photography." Starting out creatively from the beginning undeniably had an influence on the unique perspective within her work, showing the importance of every step of the process of creation.
I wanted to get an idea of who inspires her to make her work. Her favorites, who she mentioned as Lainey Conant (@kittylouu), Paolo Raeli (@paoloraeli), Gabe Johnson (@falllenskies), Christopher James (@christopher.james) and Sarah Bahbah (@sarahbahbah) all share a similar style of portraits with a creative twist. This is what parallels with Audrey’s work, and seeing who influences her reinforces this once more. She also expresses admiration for feature accounts “because I get exposed to many photographers and many different artistic styles daily”. Her admiration and respect for other work encourages not only learning from others, but how it can influence one’s own work.
When discussing the individuality of her work, it's hard to ignore the famous and recognizable locations of her photography. From the streets of Italy to the hills of Germany, Audrey’s work incorporates the value of a high quality photograph from background to subject. Yet, she also stresses the importance of having an idea for your picture and more specifically your subject. “Location influences my work and how I edit my photos but it’s definitely not essential for a good portrait. While I definitely feel more inspired and may get a more interesting background through travel, for me the main focus is the model and capturing the most dynamic photo of them, whether it be in front of the Colosseum or in my backyard.”
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Audrey’s interests outside of photography are diverse and interesting, showing her open-mindedness towards exploring new hobbies.“My dad and I joined a rock climbing gym a few months ago and since then I have become borderline obsessed with it. My arms are constantly in pain and my hands are destroyed, but now I can do a pull up (!!!) which is a feat I previously believed to be entirely impossible.”
Being a student (especially entering their senior year of High School) and balancing an outside interest of photography isn’t easy, and Audrey confesses to this. “My main obstacle to having time for hobbies is balancing schoolwork with college apps, and somehow in between finding time for things like climbing and photography. ”
With highly creative ambitions and a demanding year ahead, Audrey recognizes the importance of balance and keeps school as her first priority. “Having enough self control to put my phone away and focus on my schoolwork is crucial to maintaining a balanced schedule. I figure if I can prevent myself from procrastinating, I can squeeze in time for extracurriculars”
After six years of experience, Audrey reflects that the time is what made her who she is and is the primary influence of her work. “I have learned that time really does make a hell of a difference. Having the fancy camera is only part of the equation. There is an art to photography that is learned through patience and practice, and it is so fun for me to scroll back through the years and see how far I’ve come. I progressed because I didn’t give up, even when my photos weren’t as good as @fetching_tigerss, because it didn’t matter whose photos were better, what mattered was that creating them made me happy.”
Even through the work of learning to be the best you can, it’s putting yourself out there in the first place that matters. Everything that Audrey has done is as a result of taking a risk with something new, and learning and growing from that.
“Photography is so fun. Get any camera you can get your hands on and just try it out. If you’re antisocial, take photos of plants! If you’re not antisocial, take photos of people! And if you’re like me and you’re antisocial AND take photos of people, you’re fucked! (Kidding) Moral of the story, if someone were to express interest in photography to me, I would tell them that photography is a great way to help you connect with people and nature and the world as a whole, and that we should shoot sometime ;)”
You can check out more of Audrey's work here: https://www.instagram.com/entrxnced/
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
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