Leanne Staples

Leanne is an urban photographer based in New York where she not only teaches online photography classes but also works as a licensed tour guide. On top of that she’s officially “one of the nicest photographers” on Google+ as well, so it’s our pleasure to introduce the lovely Leanne!

You don’t seem to have taken up mobile photography yet… and Instagram is one of the only main social networks that you don’t have a presence on. Will you be making room for it in your life?

Mobile photography seems impossible for me. I find it difficult to compose shots and it just feels clumsy. I am used to having something with more substance and weight in my hands. I do take the occasional shot as a reminder of a place that I want to shoot again at a later date. As for Instagram, I recently rejoined it, but I only post photos taken with cameras, not mobile phones.

Photography is an art that is known for it’s evolutionary process - does it become tougher each year to learn new tricks?

For me, the only limitations I experience in advancing my work are with myself. I tend to go through different periods of shooting certain subjects or processing in certain styles until I get bored. (I get bored on a regular basis.) Then I start experimenting with new subjects and processing techniques. Photography and art are only limited by one’s imagination and willingness to constantly experiment and not fear failure.

There is an ongoing debate about photography still being a male dominated profession with the majority of veteran successful photographers being men. Do you feel that women still don’t get taken as seriously as they should and is there a difference in the way men and women produce images… or do you feel that its just a case of great photographers take great images?

As a woman I have to say that this is a question that has haunted me for many years. When I was in my teens and considering photography as a career, I was unable to find women as role models. I was unable to find a niche that spoke to me. That was a time well before the internet and I had no idea that photographers like Diane Arbus and Helen Levitt existed. As a result, I did not pursue photography as a profession at that point in my life.

If there’s a difference between men and women photographers it could be that many women produce art for arts sake and men produce as a career. That said, when it comes to photography produced by women and men they are equally talented.

You’re quite an ‘influencer’ with over 1.5 million followers on Google+. Do you feel a big responsibility with regard to what you post, how often you post and how you interact with your followers?

Social media is a double-edged sword. It has democratized photography as a profession. Before the internet the work of many photographers past and present would’ve gone unknown. The only method of seeing photography before social media and the internet was in museums, galleries and books. The chances of getting your work accepted into that world was difficult at best.

Now we live in a world that is bombarded with images and likes on social sites are free and since everyone owns a camera now, it has become more difficult to actually make a living selling photography. I contribute to a number of social sites but as I need to have time to create and to make a living, I limit my time online. As for having a responsibility with regard to what I post, I tend to post photos that I am currently in the mood for.

Sally Mann said “I get seduced by visual aesthetics. Because I just like making beautiful pictures, sometimes I wander away from making a clear statement”. Is that something you can relate to and do you feel that much of what it produced today in this throw away society we all live in, is perhaps lacking any statement at all?

I guess that I think of my work in a post-modern light. That is to say that what a photograph means to me is not important. Each person reads an image in their own way. If I am successful, an image speaks to others. I only hope that it isn’t pedantic, that there is only one way to interpret an image. So to answer your question, I don’t know that I neatly fit into either camp that you mention. But then I’m not certain that I am able to be totally objective about my own work as I am too close to it.

Visual communication seems to be taking over as the primary form of expression and there are obviously good and bad sides to this but what do you see as the biggest benefits that photography has brought society – and conversely do you see any drawbacks?

Photography as an art form is very important to me. In contrast, the majority of images that we see on a day to day basis are forms of advertising. The biggest problem I see is that as a culture we tend to be visual illiterates and that we don’t tend to take the time to understand the meaning in the images that we view.