LEAH
WELLMAN
ABOUT ME
Leah Wellman
Fine Art Photographer and Camera Assistant
Hello!
I'm Leah and I'm a photographer and filmmaker based in Chicago! For the past few years, I have been working freelance as a camera assistant, cumulating experience working on a variety of projects from commercial, narrative, music videos, and more. I am passionate about creating work that is not only beautifully captured, but is also produced in environments that inspire collaboration and teamwork in accomplishing a creative vision.
As a photographer, my work mainly focuses on fashion and editorial photography, but I have experience shooting landscapes, portraits, and still life photos. Photography is a medium that continually challenges me to try new techniques, and I enjoy working as an art director alongside my projects, incorporating props, furniture, and accessories that fit my creative vision. I enjoy getting to style unique shoots based around specific decades, color palettes, and themes and my love for vintage clothing and aesthetics is quite prominent in my images. Similarly, I also try to expand my work beyond just digital practices, so I've sewn dresses and explored alternative photo practices such as analog and cyanotypes as well.
My work as a narrative cinematographer tends to lean towards horror/thriller concepts with darker tones. However, In recent years, I've leaned my work to more lighthearted elements with a focus on campiness and comedy. I try not to take my style too seriously, and my goal is to make productions not only fun to see visually, but exciting and welcoming to be a part of.
Learn more about my visual style and some of the individual projects I'm working on below!
Artist Statement:
Leah Wellman
When I began my interest in photography I struggled to label myself into a category or "style" because of how many forms interested me. However, one of the main components that continually drives me to photography is its multidisciplinary capacity and ability to evoke many emotions depending on the chosen visual style. Recently, I've defined myself as a portrait and fine art photographer because of how heavily I lean into experimentation and individual style in my work. I enjoy being involved in all parts of the image creation process, from loading the film, designing the set, or directing the talent. Because of this, my imagery tends to lean heavily on specific outfits, set design, and poise to create scenes that encompass a specific mood. My educational background in cinematography has heavily translated into my imagery, through its concentration on storytelling and creating a scene instead of capturing a moment. To me, photography isn't a form of documentation, but a canvas that allows me to create the world in my own way.
My work leans in multiple directions when creating, and I either focus on editorial work where I just want to create a pretty image, or my personal daily life. In recent years, I have wanted to expand on the latter in understanding why I chose to capture certain subjects and how it makes me feel. Themes that have connected with me concentrate on personal perception and relationships with femininity and my inner circle of loved ones. My personal anxiety and struggles with body imagery has become a personal study for me that I started to capture in my series "Like Mother, Like Daughter". These images focus on internal struggles with body perception and highlights this relationship between my younger sister, my mother, and myself. The ways in which I've perceived myself and my body has been a challenge for myself, and something I didn't connect with until adulthood that I'm hoping to understand more through this series as I build further upon it.
As I've entered a new stage of my life, I am continually wanting to study the relationships with myself and the people I interact with through its correlation to my mental health. Throughout 2023, I began a series "Looking Out, Looking In" in hopes of motivating myself to shoot more everyday and to think intently about what matters to me at this point in my life. These images have all been created in my 20s, as I moved into my first adult apartment and began my life post grad. While dealing with continuous cycles of depression and changing friend groups, I have been photographing myself, my cat, my room, and my current boyfriend throughout the phases of the year. This series is one I'm hoping to continue to culminate throughout the next few years of my life, and has been a tool for me to see how much I've grown, and to focus on details in my everyday that inspires me.
Besides working as a photographer, I enjoy having the opportunity to work as an art director for my own shoots. I adore vintage clothing and aesthetics and try to incorporate these elements into my work. From thrifting clothes and utilizing my families own antiques, I hope to bring new life to objects that have been forgotten and to think environmentally about the props I use. Similarly, I have also explored different forms of direction, by including hand made clothing such as a dress I designed in my series "Through the Garden". One of my favorite elements of photography is its ability to combine with other art mediums such as fashion or graphic design, and I am wanting to continually explore different ways to incorporate other creative concepts into my own work despite labeling myself as a photographer.
In recent years, I have steered beyond digital practices completely, and began experimenting with alternative processes as well as analog techniques. From cyanotypes, polaroids, and medium format film, I enjoy the opportunity to work tactically with my images and explore how storytelling can be enhanced by the medium I use. This art form is a practice I am still discovering for myself and I'm understanding how to utilize it more with the cost being drastically different than digital work. However, this medium has taught me to look at photography in its simplest form, driving my attention to create just to create and allowing the images to stand on their own.
As I've had the opportunity to study my own style and personal beliefs more, I am hoping photography continues to teach me not only about the art form but about myself as well. I don't want vulnerability to scare me, but to challenge myself to capture struggles and challenges that universally connect us. I hope to become a photographer that continues to develop and grow alongside my images without fear of being misunderstood.