Azra
Photographer: Lauren Apel
1. What significant life experiences or events have influenced and shaped your artistic vision?
Our whole lives shape our art—the things I have experienced and lived through by my own choices or the choices of others—it’s all in there. If I had to isolate one overarching piece that has pulled me forward, it is a love for people. And then, once I became a mom I had a new connection to the world around me, to families in general. I wasn’t drawn to that sort of work at the beginning of my career but at this point it’s one of my favorite spaces to create in.
2. Collaboration often sparks fresh creativity. Can you share an example of a collaboration that led to an unexpected and exciting artistic outcome?
This has become fundamental—and I truly mean that—to my work. Whether it is paid work or a wedding or family photos or a personal project, I want it to feel like a collaborative effort. A couple years ago I worked on a project with several friends—a bridal company, a designer I know, a stylist, a hair and makeup artist, someone who shot polaroids for us the whole time—and it was so fun, my sister and brother in law modeled for us and we shot in this fantasy suite that was simultaneously so gross and so perfect and that led to us continuing at a Whataburger nearby. It was really all for fun, an excuse for us to all work together. And then fast forward a couple years and one of the photos from that shoot is now printed on the side of a building in Dallas. I say work with your friends! Work with people you admire! There is literally no telling where it’ll take you. Be kind to everyone—that has never steered me wrong.
3. Walk us through a specific project that challenged your creative boundaries. How did you approach it, and what did you learn from the experience?
Because I do shoot mostly weddings, I think my boundaries are constantly being pushed. I have zero control on a wedding day, I am beholden to the light (or lack of) and obstacles and personalities and weather and so on. I’m pretty used to a ten minute slot for portraits and it usually feels very much like a make-it-work-designers thing. With challenges you learn to trust yourself more and your base instinct, making moves without overthinking or planning. Developing an awareness or sensitivity to beauty. It also brings an easy going quality to work because the lack of control makes you willing to go with the flow.
4. In the ever-evolving art world, what do you believe sets your work apart and makes it unique or groundbreaking?
The basic answer that also is mostly true, is that I am incapable of doing anything other than what I can do—so my work will always be just mine. With whatever limitations I hold to or however deep I can dig or hard I can push—it can only be whatever I have. I’ve been at it for long enough that I am no stranger to the cyclical nature of it—the seasons of absolute nothing where it feels like the inspired days are behind me and then the breakthrough and relief to get somewhere new and good again and then back to feeling empty and incapable and then an overwhelm of something so filling. It’s always like that for me. I don’t know if it’s groundbreaking, but it is mine.
5. As you reflect on your journey, are there any specific goals or milestones you've set for your artistic career in the coming years?
The short answer is yes and no—my goal is to enjoy a quiet life with my family rich in relationship and simplicity and beauty. I want peace and I want to work. I create because I have to, because there is no other option for me. Where that work goes and where it ends up—I’m not really hung up on that part. I just want to make things I am proud of—I want to work with other people who feel that draw and I want to feel good about it. I want to give people photos they love. I think that’s what has sustained me this far in—it’s not really about me. Burnout would’ve had me by now if it was just about me. Making it about the people in the photos just busted everything open. It’s fulfilling. Someone once said to me in passing, “Art is hype” and it’s so true and so my bottom line is just that I want my work to be for the people in the photos themselves or people who can see themselves in them. I’m not too interested in hype. I want longevity. I want to keep carving and clawing and pushing toward the next thing. And I hope it’s beautiful and fills me up and whoever else was a part of it.
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Stylized editorial maternity photos.
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Photographer: Lauren Apel
Stylist/Wardrobe Stylist: Lolo Creative
Model/Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist: Azra