On Making Art For Yourself (Not Instagram): Megan Baker
Every year, bbatx curates a monthly residency highlighting the work of 10 to 15, Texas-based women and nonbinary visual and musical artists that create work and perform in our programs. As we move to take our programs online, we’ve partnered with Bumble to launch a digital version of The Residency. From now through November 1, 2020, you can tune in for weekly mixes, visuals and workshops from 16 women and nonbinary artists and DJs.
Today, as part of the series, we’ve got an interview with photographer Megan Baker. In conversation with bbatx committee member A'nysha Aileen, Megan talks talks with us about her background in architecture, resisting the urge to over-value social media and her advice for up and coming photographers.
ABOUT MEGAN BAKER:
Born in Denver and raised in Seattle, Megan has always been surrounded by and involved in art, design and other creative outlets. After starting her degrees in architecture, she became interested in photography and its ability to capture and tell a story through light. For Megan, her excitement in both art and design stem from observing the beautiful intricacies of the human condition, and revealing them to others through whatever medium fits best.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. :)
So, I grew up in Seattle, and I think that really gave me exposure to a lot of arts and creativity at a very young age. My parents were always very supportive of me pursuing art, so when I did show an interest in something, they always let me spread my wings in that field. By the time I got to college, I decided to go into architecture. I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in architectural design—which has nothing to do with photography, which is funny when I think about why I picked up a camera to begin with.
When did you know that you wanted to explore photography, and what prompted this decision?
I was always into painting at a younger age. Then with architecture school and being in the studio, it just took so much time that I didn’t have time to paint. I was doing so much drawing and painting for school, I didn’t want to anymore. Then I thought, “Well, I have this camera to take photos of my architectural models. Why don’t I just start taking photos? It’s a faster creative outlet for me.” I started picking up a camera my freshman year. My film professor told me that I had “no real photographic talent or eye” and I said, “F*ck that, I’m gonna keep doing it because I wanna do it. It makes me feel good.”
I just started asking people, “Can I take a photo of you?” and it kind of just took off from there. That’s my interest in design, too—the people. Having that human element in a photo carries across the message more than if it’s just a landscape photo sometimes. It’s the soul of an image. Even if it is a landscape, if you have a tiny person in the frame somewhere, that human interaction pulls people into a story rather than an image.
How have your projects grown and changed since you started?
At first, I was more interested in taking a pretty picture, which is all well and good, I still love doing that, but I have been privileged to experience a lot of different things at a young age—hear different people’s experiences and stories, travel—that kind of popped my perspective bubble of how big the world really is. After a while, creating a pretty picture that would just get me some likes didn’t fulfill me; I wanted to know the people I was photographing, past just their face.
I started trying to use photography to digest the conversations I was having with people, whether it was religion, society, honestly any topic worth discussing. Figuring out a way to visualize what I was thinking, or what I had heard, helps me understand more, and maybe (I hope) helps others understand themselves more, too.
What do you want people to take away from your photos?
I don't have a direct answer for that. I get that question a lot, especially with the projects that I have started doing. That's a heavy question, and I'm not really sure. I want whatever you feel to be how you feel about my art. There’s this quote, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” So whatever you take away from what my art is it, that’s the goal. For me, there's no set rule for what people need to be experiencing from art. And I never want it to be that way. I think that’s the beauty of it. It’s so big that you can let it be what it is for everyone. I used to get really upset about not being able to control what people saw in my art, that they didn’t understand me, but then my friend told me that once you put it out there, you cease to have ownership of it anymore, and that’s always really stuck with me. As long as you like your work, that’s all that matters. If other people like it, that’s just an added bonus.
Do you have any advice for up and coming photographers?
To move away from our current standard of social media fame as a definition of success and talent. And yeah, OK, having a lot of followers can help with business, don’t get me wrong. I'm very active on Instagram as I'm saying this, but being able to detach from that and do the things that really speak to you is important. It doesn't really matter if that’s what’s trending. If you don’t really connect with it, your work isn’t really going to speak as much, and then what’s the point?
I would also say to really put yourself out there. I'm a very shy person, or at least I was. When I moved here for grad school two and a half years ago, I was kind of like, “No, we're going to meet people. We’re going to do the extrovert thing.” I’m still not a great extrovert, but not closing myself off helped a lot. Really being yourself in your art, regardless of likes, is the best advice I could give. From a business standpoint, you really need to be annoying to get the jobs you want. It requires a lot of emailing and a lot of drive.
If you don't want to have to do that, don't do freelance. And you don't have to do freelance. A lot of people think freelance is so fun, and it's not. I'm so thankful that I graduated in December and got a traditional job. Job security is an amazing thing to have. Knowing where your checks are coming from can free you from the weight and anxiety freelance can give you, and then you have more energy to focus on your craft. Don't put freelance on a pedestal, but do what you want to do and be willing to fight for it. You'll send a ton of emails. So many emails. You just really need to bug people. The universe will not let you fail if it was meant for you. If you fail [at freelance] it’s either because you’re not ready for it or it’s not meant for you.
Who (or what) inspires and informs your work?
Friends and the community inspire me. A lot of my inspiration is based on conversations I have. I guess I’m lucky to have friends in this community who are all actively doing such cool things, growing. They say you are the product of the people around you. When everyone is constantly killing the game, it pushes you to do more. They are also ethically killing the game. They're all doing it the right way and that kind of pushes me to do the best I can and to push everyone else to do the same. If everyone around you isn't successful, are you really successful? As much as the famous artists are amazing, I almost can't connect with their work as much because I don't know them. I am more inspired by the people I know.
Can you describe your creative process? What is the first thing you do when you start a project?
I really write a lot down. It's not usually comprehendible. I'm not writing a story. It's usually chicken scratch, a piece of a magazine ripped out and glued in my sketchbook, anything that will remind me of that specific thought from a conversation or an experience. Like, see here on this page I literally just wrote “dancing light, projection profiles, butterfly,” like... what? But reading that, somewhere in my mind, it makes complete sense. I'll be walking and I see something and I’m like, “Huh, interesting, let’s explore that.” I guess I’m trying to physically see that feeling I had, and once I kind of get that little bit figured out, I start researching how I can actually visualize it in 3D. I guess that’s where the architecture has helped me, causing me to be detail-oriented and dive deep into things.