Los Angeles based Maddy Welk´s work spreads good mood, but also a somehow nostalgic and thoughtful feeling. Driven by the passion of capturing the time to conquer generations and self-development, her work is a good study of the new female photographer generation.
What moment made you fall in love with photography?
I wouldn’t say I’m in LOVE with photography. I go through many periods of annoyance and frustration with it, but that’s because I’m so insecure about my own work. But before I got that deep with it, I was taking pictures I thought were cooler than they actually were on my iPhone just like everyone else. And before THAT, I was just a spacey little Pisces nightmare, constantly daydreaming and staring at the world around me, creating stories in my head. What set off my fascination with photos was the tons of boxes of old photos my grandma kept around the house. I spent so much time just sitting on the kitchen floor by myself and pouring over these old family photos. I tried to understand the feeling of living in these scenarios dating all the way back to 1910, I was obsessed with how my family members looked when they were so young, what they wore and where they hung out. I stress out about the concept of time, so I realized it was very important for me to capture moments in my life, no matter how small, because I want to remember everything. This eventually evolved into something that became less severe and more for fun, and before I knew it I was making an Instagram and furiously hitting up models to try new ideas with.
How would you describe your own work?
Half assed. I personally don’t think I’m very good at photography, and people always roll their eyes at me when I openly roast my own work. But I am constantly striving to improve. I see my work and I’m like “this could be better.” I think my work is a multitude of things, but I think overall it’s just the way I see the world. It’s inconsistent, it’s not always technically correct, and it certainly isn’t perfect, but that’s a reflection of who I am and how I live my life.
“My work is inconsistent, it’s not always technically correct, and it certainly isn’t perfect, but that’s a reflection of who I am and how I live my life.”
What is the essence of a good image?
I am definitely not the person to answer this question. In my mind, an image is good because you, the person who created it, likes it. It’s your confidence in its goodness that makes it good. Also, your ability to tell a story through your image. As of late, I’ve been trying to be a better storyteller, rather than just a person that captures a picture of another person. It’s a process though, old habits die hard. But I really do want to be able to put out the most honest version of myself out into the world, even if that means being vulnerable and not caring if people are going like, or let alone follow you through your journey.
What do you love about capturing people?
Well I particularly love capturing women, because I think girls are just so much prettier than boys, and so much more… More. You know? We’re so powerful, and that power has been, and is still so underestimated. There’s a raging feminist fire that burns within me and I always feel the need to make sure that all women feel empowered at all times. What I love about the way I capture the women I shoot is the way I’m able to get to know them and then decide how I’m going to convey their personalities, their energy, and their sense of self in one still moment in time. I shoot them as I see them. And I hope that people, especially these models themselves, see the unbridled beauty and fierceness that I see.
Where do you find the inspiration for your photographs?
Instagram, honestly. Everybody and their work is so easily accessible through there, and it opens up infinite channels to people’s websites, publications, etc. But before I found Instagram, my inspiration was drawn from the beauty of the world around me. I feel like I’ve always noticed and harped on certain details about people and places and things and whatnot. I could spend 30 minutes being fascinated by the way the wind blows through the trees of my backyard, and where it’ll travel to and blow through next. I get lost in these long tangents sometimes. I’m constantly experiencing sensory overload.
“When people get used to an artists style, they expect that they’re always going to be coming back to the same thing. I definitely got lost in a period of people-pleasing for a while. But there’s not enough time in the days, months, and years to be doing the same shit over and over again. Evolution is inevitable.”
Once you wrote a very inspiring instagram post about “aesthetically consistent”. Don´t you think your worked has changed over the time? And why do you think that people always expect a certain style of each artist?
My work has ABSOLUTELY changed over time. I recently went through a bunch of my photos from when I first started and I honestly can’t believe the progress I’ve made over the course of the year and a half I’ve been doing this. I really discount how amazing this kind of growth is. What’s even more amazing is how I’ve grown as a person, along with my photos, and that kind of maturity reflects in my work.
I think that people tend to gravitate toward what’s familiar, and what’s mostly familiar sometimes is stuff that has the same feeling and energy, stuff that feels comfortable and routine. When people get used to an artists style, they expect that they’re always going to be coming back to the same thing. I definitely got lost in a period of people-pleasing for a while. I thought that my work was only good because the masses approved of it. But I realized that wasn’t the case, and that wasn’t going to make me grow as a photographer. There’s not enough time in the days, months, and years to be doing the same shit over and over again. Evolution is inevitable.
What do you expect from life?
I feel like I expect what everybody expects from life. I want to be happy. I want to be secure with myself. I want success, I want a lot of love. I want to reach the end of my life and have some good stories to tell. What I expect more than anything though, is to always be surprised by the unexpected. And that’s what makes living so exciting.
Any thoughts about the nowadays “Instagram Generation”
The Instagram craze is super weird. I’m always torn between being horrified and in awe of the power of the internet. Straight up, I definitely think having, or striving to have a massive social media following can be detrimental to a person. I say this because I’ve noticed that in LA, having a huge Instagram presence can mean a lot to some people, and some of those people are, or end up becoming, total dicks. Instagram is a great platform to get your message out to the world and simultaneously make new friends, but at the same time, it’s just an app. It’s both extremely helpful, and extremely full of shit. I got my start as a photographer through Instagram, but I’m not going to have it distract me from what’s important in my life.
“The Instagram craze is super weird. I’m always torn between being horrified and in awe of the power of the internet.”
How important are friends for you?
My friends are everything. I’ve gone through what feels like a lifetime of falling in and out of friendships, and I can honestly say that the ones that have stuck around are what make my life so enjoyable. People you can relate to and be comfortable around, people who laugh at your jokes and want to go places with you, those people are invaluable. Trust is invaluable. What’s funny is that if I said this to my friends, they’d roll their eyes and tell me to fuck off, but I’d do the same thing too.
What are you most grateful for?
Dolly Parton. Rotisserie chicken. Dogs. Drag queens. My embarrassing but completely and unconditionally supportive family and friends.
What do you love about Los Angeles?
LA is soooo weird, and everybody here is totally down with it. People from all walks of life come here, and they have the ability to be free and completely themselves. LA is this giant, gross cesspool surrounded by dope little pockets of nature and art and culture. You can drive an hour in any direction and end up at the beach, or the mountains, or my personal favorites, the deserts or the farmlands. California has everything.
www.maddywelk.com
www.instagram.com/maddywelk
