Photographer Lucy Lu gets back to her roots with this in-depth interview on the power of storytelling behind the lens.
Before she felt ready to photograph other people’s stories, Lucy Lu knew she needed to go to China and capture her own.
A couple years after graduating from photography school, Lucy Lu, 29, found herself sitting at her graphic design job, dreaming of Xi’an, China. Xi’an was Lucy’s home before she immigrated to Toronto, Canada with her family at eight-years-old, and her identity still felt enmeshed in the culture, the people, and the stories she left behind.
“Exploring my roots and my own story is the topic of most of my major personal projects,” she tells Shutterstock. “If I wanted to be able to tell other people’s stories, I knew I needed to explore where I came from first.”
That’s ultimately how Lucy found herself back in her home country, starting to piece together the hyper-real style that has come to define her work as a photojournalist and featured artist in Shutterstock’s Create Fund program.
Below, Lucy shares how she came into photography, what defines her career, and the parallels between her work and the mission of The Create Fund.
Shutterstock: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. How did you get into photography?
Lucy Lu: I’ve always been interested in the arts ever since I was little. I have a cousin who is six years older than me, and she was really into art. I looked up to her and wanted to do everything she did.
While I was in high school, I took a dark room class on a whim and fell in love with shooting film, printing in the darkroom, and watching my photos develop.
I knew I had to pursue it and, luckily, my parents were mostly supportive. But, they said that if I was going to study photography I had to do it at a university, so that’s what I did. I studied at Toronto Metropolitan University, one of the few fine arts programs in Canada that specifically focuses on photography.
Unfortunately, even the best schools don’t really teach you how to make a career out of photography, so after graduation, I worked as a graphic designer for a year and a half. I was still picking up freelance photography jobs here and there, but it was really difficult to freelance on top of working full time.
I mostly do portraiture and, I would say, story-based photography. I wouldn’t say it’s 100% photojournalism, though I do do some photojournalism and work with publications and newspapers.
So, that’s what I was trying to pursue. I wanted to use photography to explore my childhood back in China, so I went and lived in Xi’an for three months.
I left my job, and I gave up my apartment. I was like, “I’ll figure it out when I come back.” And, that was the project that really formed my style. I would say it made me into the photographer I am today.
It also opened a lot of doors for me and got me a lot of opportunities, because when I came back to Toronto, I was able to publish in the local paper and I had a few exhibitions with the images from that project, as well.
SSTK: What inspired your earliest work, and how did that lead to where you are now?
Lu: I’ve always been inspired by stories, even beyond photography. I love to read and to watch movies. I’m just inspired by the stories of everyday life that I see around me.
That’s what inspired a lot of my earlier work and even my work now, and it’s why I got so interested in documentary photography and photojournalism.
I like working with people. I like talking to people. I like to access experiences I wouldn’t otherwise have access to, and learning about lives that I wouldn’t necessarily live.
SSTK: What’s something portrait photography has taught you about humanity or the world?
Lu: Portrait photography really opens your mind up to all the different ways people can live. And, I think this is true for photography in general—it really helps you have more empathy for other people.
That’s the power of storytelling—whatever medium you choose to tell a story with, you’re able to connect with a fellow human and see their story from their perspective, especially if it’s totally different from your own.
SSTK: What’s your best advice for creating trust between a photographer and a subject?
Lu: That’s one of the more difficult things that I’ve had to learn—how to form these genuine connections with the people you’re photographing. Because, at the end of the day, there is a weird power dynamic between the photographer and the subject. You have control over their image.
So, I try to make as genuine of a connection as I can person-to-person, versus photographer-to-subject. And, especially with longer-term storytelling projects, you really want to get to know the person, and maybe not even have your camera the first time you meet them.
It always helps to connect on a personal level and find something that you have in common, even if you’re only shooting them for 30 minutes. You need to discuss what the project is, what you’re hoping to get, and to just be very transparent with what you’re trying to do.
SSTK: Can you describe how your work with The Create Fund aligns with your broader storytelling mission?
Lu: As a person who comes from two different cultures, I’m really interested in the story arc of the immigrant experience. I’m also interested in just capturing experiences of women, and that’s something I’ve really focused on in my work with The Create Fund.
I wanted to capture women of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and sexual orientations doing things you don’t traditionally see them doing—sports, outdoor adventure, women in business. All of those things.
That’s why I think The Create Fund is a really important initiative. I didn’t really know too much about stock photography before doing this program, and when I did think about it, it all seemed very generic and unrepresentative of the world we actually live in.
So, I hope my work can help grow the library of diverse, realistic stock photography and tell more truthful stories.
SSTK: Outside of The Create Fund, what are you working on now?
Lu: I’m currently participating in a program called Room Up Front, which is a Canadian mentorship program that works with emerging photojournalists.
I’m also working on a documentary project about people who live in intentional communities—people who aren’t related but choose to live together because of a common vision or something they all really believe in, like sustainability and environmentalism.
SSTK: How do you define success?
Lu: For me, success is being able to continue growing and doing new projects that I’m really excited about.
Sometimes, when you’re working in a field or an industry for a while—even if it’s creative—you can fall into a routine, or you start shooting the same way and it starts to feel a little boring. So, for me, success is constantly being able to try new things, learn new things, or work on new projects that excite me.
And obviously being able to sustain and support myself financially—I think that’s a big marker of success for people in creative fields.
License this cover image via lucyluphoto.
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