A great part of art consists in imitation. For the whole conduct of life is based on this: that what we admire in others we want to do ourselves.” — Quintilian
I remember the days when Instagram was truly a place where you could go to find inspiration as an artist. Long before the algorithm fed you unwanted ads and brain rot, you could find a plethora of great artists and fill your feed with their work. Well, in late 2019, I came across the writings of one such artist.
During this time, I was in the midst of publishing my first poetry book and I was consuming the works of every poet I could find. I studied as much as I could about them: their cadence structure, their metaphors, how they describe the world around them, I absorbed it all! One day Instagram pointed me to a blog titled L7 Weenie. The instant call back to the Sandlot movie told me that this was worth clicking on. And by entering that blog, I was introduced to the words and world of Lauren.
Lauren had a way of using her words that felt both grounded and relatable while their poetic structure showed the beauty of her literary art style. Entry after entry seemed to explore emotions most people tend to suppress. And because her words explored those off-limits emotions, you felt yourself dealing with your own suppressed emotions. While some writers hide behind their words, she was vulnerable enough to be both loving and critical of herself. The moment she started a topic, she didn’t shy away from fully fleshing it out with her words. I was hooked and immediately subscribed!
But Lauren is a multifaceted artist. Her poetry work eventually led me to her pottery work. And it is there where I really began to draw inspiration from her. From her throwing videos to the articles written about her and her work, it was easy to see that she was madly in love with pottery. Whether she was teaching or sharing her artwork, pottery seemed to light her up from the inside out. So much so that her love for her craft became infectious!
In fall of 2025 I was registering for classes, while pursuing a fine arts degree, and I decided to take a pottery class almost solely based on watching Lauren be so passionate about the craft. It only took a few weeks of throwing on the wheel to become hooked! It was clear why she loved it so much. Week after week I got deeper into the art form to the point that I was producing almost a dozen pieces a week. With this level of influence on my artistic journey, I knew I needed to create my own art with her.
For almost three years after first discovering her work, I had wanted to shoot with Lauren; however, I was going through my own artistic struggles and knew that I wasn’t in a place to truly capture her and her artistry the way it should. But after a mental reset trip to the Pacific Northwest and a year of finding my “why,” I finally reached out to Lauren to pitch the idea of a shoot together. The results and the experience were very much needed for my growth.
During the planning phase of the shoot, we both suggested that Shacktown Falls would make the perfect backdrop. This location along with her choice of outfit and accessories really gave this shoot a deep and multitiered meaning. See, the one thing about throwing clay is that your hands have to find a way to stay connected to each other while also staying connected to the clay. With each pull of the clay upwards, a potter will interlock their loose fingers in order to maintain that connection. Thus was born a theme for the shoot: a connection to self and earth through clay.
The first phase of the shoot told a story within itself. Besides depicting the general phases of throwing a piece of clay, it leaned greatly on the theme while her clothing and skin tones did the heavy lifting. The deep earthy brown colors of her outfit called back to the old wood fired clay pots that ancient cultures used. Her skin tone carried that motherland glow as if she was molded from the African clay soil itself. Muscles could be seen flexing and tensing as they worked in unison to center the clay while her bare feet dug into small, sandy beach, physically connecting her to the earth as she braced against it. Add in the carefully curated pieces of jewelry, the tattoos, the locs, and the small clay mushrooms around her wheel and it was clear to see that everything connected her to the clay and to the earth.
As we moved into the water, more pottery based themes could be seen. Water and moisture are probably the two most important aspects of pottery. How wet or dry a clay body is could be the difference between a successful firing or catastrophic disaster. That is why many parallels could be drawn from this phase of the shoot. In this phase, the depths of her skin tones were on full display. Golden brown earthy colors, surrounded by flowing waters, she became the perfect representation of pottery as an art form. Wet earth and mud shaped and formed by water into a beautiful brown vessel.
Finally, as we moved into woods, she dawned a set of brown pants and a jean vest. This look presented her as taking on the form of a completed pottery piece ordained with blue glaze. The forest background complimented this look by alluding to the natural processes involved in creating pottery. Add in the small piece of clay jewelry clipped to her vest and the flowered hairpin that strings all the phases together and the look was complete. All of these phases not only portray an allegory of pottery but also speaks to all the artistic elements that are molded together to create Lauren as an artist. From her love of cinema, poetry, pottery, photography, fashion and more, each of these things fit together, like the small particles in clay, to make her the unique person that she is.
From a technical standpoint, I forced myself to utilize some of the lenses that I rarely use. From the time I bought it in 2019, my 24-70mm lens has captured 80% or more of my portfolio. For this shoot I stayed with my 35mm lens for a majority of it. I had to prove to myself that I could create without leaning on my go to lens, which had become a crutch.
This was also my first portrait/editorial shoot in almost a year. A few years ago, I had burned myself out with the genre because I had never fully found my purpose inside of it. But working with Lauren marked an exciting return to the genre. I felt that I was able to create with a sense of purpose and meaning. There are many lessons I will take from this shoot and build upon. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work Lauren. Because of her, I was able to truly connect to the art I created.