I am thrilled to have Janet in our Inspiring Creatives series. She has been in the 2 Lil’ Owls community for a few years and her work is absolutely stunning. Her work with Lensbabies and textures really makes my heart sing and her art stand out. I hope you enjoy this interview on what keeps her pushing forward in her creativity as much as I did! xoxo Denise

Tell me a bit about your background and what inspires you to be creative.

My background isn’t the slightest bit creative surprisingly! At school, I was more drawn to maths and science than anything creative. I gave up art as soon as I could since I didn’t believe I could do it (although my art teacher thought differently) but I studied and loved Geometric Engineering Drawing. I left school and trained in accounts, which given my love of maths wasn’t surprising. I worked for a number of different organizations in various accounting roles but I always had a nagging feeling that I meant to be doing something completely different. From time to time I would feel a strong urge to create something but I never found an outlet for my creativity until I discovered photography. Once I did discover photography it became all-consuming, I began to take my photography seriously in 2009 and studied with the Open College of The Arts. At the end of 2011, I found myself without a job and early in 2012 I launched my business as a portrait photographer. My business has changed a lot since then as I’ve realized that it’s possible to create a business in my own way without following the expected path of shooting weddings and portraits.

What started your photographic journey?

A random series of events! I’d been working a lot of additional hours so had a much higher wage than usual, this was something that never happened in my line of work, paid overtime just wasn’t the norm. I went out Christmas shopping with my husband, again something that didn’t normally happen I would usually go alone. We walked along a street in the town center that we wouldn’t usually walk along and for some reason, I felt drawn to look in the camera shop window even though I had no interest in photography. Then my husband announced that since I’d earned extra money I should treat myself to a camera and he thought I’d be good at photography – and I have no idea why he thought that because I’d never shown any interest. So after a little deliberation, I came out of the shop the proud owner of a little Fuji compact. I often look back and think the universe was giving me a massive push in the right direction that day!

It was probably another 18 months before I really started to shoot more regularly and I upgraded to a Fuji bridge camera. At the time Fuji had a great online community with lots of photo challenges and this encouraged me to start learning and experimenting. By 2009 I was totally hooked and enrolled with the Open College of the Arts to improve my skills and push me out of my comfort zone.

What drives you to keep growing creativity?

I honestly can’t really explain what drives me, the need to create feels as essential as the need to eat and drink. It’s strange to think that something I only discovered in my early forties has become such an essential part of my life.

What or who has been the biggest influence on your creativity and why?

I think that would have to be my Lensbaby lenses along with the decision to shoot more personal work.

I became a competent portrait photography very quickly after launching my business, in 2013 I won the Guild of Photographers Image of Year awards ahead of around 10,000 entrants with a portrait of a girl and her dog. It was a massive achievement that I was incredibly proud of but it wasn’t long before I started to feel that there was something missing creatively. Making a conscious effort to shoot for myself more often helped but taking the decision to experiment more with vintage lenses and Lensbabies really set me free creatively. I’d always felt a need to be creating work that wasn’t the same as everyone else’s and I feel that working with Lensbaby lenses allows me to create from my heart and really let go of any need to conform. I’ve grown a lot as a creative photographer over the last 2/3 years and a lot of that growth is due to shooting with Lensbabies.

What do you do differently to bring authenticity to your art?

Mostly I try to create work that feels true to me and I don’t worry about conforming to any “rules”. I’m not ever looking to replicate something else that I’ve seen, although we are obviously all influenced by other photographers and artists even if it’s subconsciously. I’m generally looking for a way to photograph something that isn’t the obvious approach and I want my end result to be uniquely me. It might be through shooting at different angles, adding lots of blur through my choice of lens or by the editing. I generally aim for my images to be seen more as artistic interpretations than documentary records. Often I’ll add textures or in the case of my Landscapes of Dreams series I do a lot of work in Photoshop and then add a little story.

What has been the most challenging part of creating your art?

Discovering the direction I wanted to move in and then developing the skills to get me there. At every stage, since I started to take photography I’ve felt that there’s a new area I need to explore and it hasn’t always been obvious what that direction might be. I generally find it by experimenting and seeing where that leads me and looking at a wide variety of art and photography. I’ll find the start of a path that I want to follow, often I don’t quite have the skills I need but luckily I love learning!

What was your biggest fear when you started to follow your passion and how have you overcome that?

In the very beginning, I had the same fear of sharing my work publicly that I think everyone feels at some point. I soon got over that when I started having to submit work to tutors for their feedback and realized how beneficial good critical feedback can be. Now if I share an image and it’s not as well received it really doesn’t bother me, I’ve long ago realized that you can’t possibly please everyone with every image. As long as I got pleasure from the creative process I’ve achieved my goals.

How has embracing your creativity impacted your life?

Massively! I went from being employed as an accountant to being self-employed running photography workshops, offering online photography support and selling photographic art online and to shops. Most of my friends I’ve met through photography and I feel like I know so many people in an online sort of way that I just wouldn’t be connected to without having found and embraced my creative side.

What do you do when you find yourself in a rut or you are feeling uninspired?

I have a few different approaches, often I’ll go walking in open countryside and that often frees my creative mind. Mostly I’ll do this without the camera, it’s one way I’m guaranteed to spot lots of potential images and then I just can’t wait to get out my camera and shoot. Other times I’ll sit on the floor in front of my bookcase and browse through my photography book collection, I can guarantee that spending some time with my Susan Burnstine books will leave me full of inspiration. Another thing that helps me feel creative is to wander around a gallery, it doesn’t matter what I look at just soaking up other people’s creative output can be massively inspiring.

If you could share one truth… from your creative heart to ours… what would you want us to know?

Create the sort of work that makes you happy, enjoy the process and don’t worry too much about social media approval. And don’t value perfection above creativity.

What’s next? Where do you see your artistic vision leading you?

My Landscapes of Dreams series (www.janetbroughton.co.uk) is a new body of work that blurs the lines between photography and digital art. I’ve been feeling a pull away from straight photography for some time now so I can see that side of my work developing further.

Do you have any tips, tricks or advice for those just getting started out in photography?

There is so much advice that I could share! I think the most important thing I can share is to seek out inspiring photographers but don’t compare your own work to theirs. Use their work to inspire and motivate you but only compare yourself to the photographer you used to be. And also know that we all have days where we feel like creatively we just took a massive step backward. Don’t let those bad days get you down, accept them as part of the process, tomorrow is another day.

What is the one piece of photography equipment you absolutely cannot live without?

My Lensbabies! Which is technically much more than one piece of equipment but I can’t possibly pick a favorite.