Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alaina Lurry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Alaina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The Cereal Shoot is the most meaningful project I have worked on. This piece is a trilogy from a photographic study I conducted on the juxtaposition of childhood and adulthood while in a stage of adolescence.
When I was seventeen I hit a point in my adolescence where my life was moving and changing very fast. At the time I was a junior in high school working through a worldwide pandemic with thoughts of college and a career on the horizon; I was in a state of panic. The state of panic led to a moment of creative stagnation. I knew I was interested in photography but I didn’t know how I wanted to manifest my creations let alone how I envisioned my future.
Being that I was only seventeen I still felt like a child but I was also on the cusp of adulthood. I was still in high school, living with my parents, I was self-sufficient but still relied on my parents largely, but in contrast, I was making adult decisions, I had multiple jobs, and my transportation, and I was balancing college classes, college applications, freelance work, and career preparation. I felt like I was at a crossroads. I felt at home I was treated like a child but outside of my home, I took on the many roles of a mature adult. These emotions were very conflicting for me and did not help with my creative process. I didn’t know how to process my feelings. In times of hardship especially this one I reflected on my childhood where I felt most at peace. The nostalgia that came from childhood cartoons, playing with neighborhood children, and the joys and wonder of being a kid resonated deeply with my internal conflict.
When I was sixteen I began crafting the idea of The Cereal Shoot. I was heavily influenced by elements of childhood and the work of Nadia Lee Cohen. I wanted to show the joy and nostalgia of being a child in a highly saturated way while taking a makeshift approach to the project. This idea was sitting in my journal for months before I was able to bring it to life. At the time I constructed this idea I didn’t know how it would correspond to my life only a year later.
In August of 2021, I was able to bring my idea to life with the help of my mentor, wonderful team, and amazing model. I didn’t know it at the time but this photoshoot was the start of my creative journey; it felt like a rebirth and regained the passion I had for photography. This shoot helped expose me to the world of creative direction and I was able to explore that. I discover that creative direction is really where my passion lies and is what I plan to continue to pursue in my career. This project not only helped me process my emotions during a hardtime, but taught me to trust my ideas. The Cereal Shoot gave me a new since of confidence in my work.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc. Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as this is one of the core questions where the reader will get to know about you and your brand/organization/etc
My name is Alaina Lurry. I was born in Atlanta and grew up in College Park, Georgia until my family moved to Jonesboro when I was 13 years old. I have always loved art in all its forms. At 3 years old, I recall drawing on anything I could get my hands on. I would take scraps of fabric, balloons, and paper and craft outfits for my dolls. This is my first memory of expressing my creativity. I fell in love with drawing as a child and enjoyed my art classes, but it wasn’t until middle school I began to take art seriously. I attended M.D. Roberts Middle School of the Performing Arts in Clayton county where I studied visual arts. Being immersed in the arts with students and teachers who took art just as seriously and were just as passionate as I encouraged me to become a better artist and further my art education.
After middle school, I decided to attend Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the arts. I came in as a visual arts student and practiced all mediums under the visual arts major, but in my sophomore year, I was exposed to photography. I always had a love for taking pictures, my photo gallery is currently about forty-four thousand images. I take pictures of whatever captures my attention throughout the day. I was the friend constantly being asked, “Hey could you take my picture?” But this was the first time I experienced the technical process of capturing images on a DSLR camera and editing. I had a photography class and one of our assignments was to create four editorial fashion photoshoots and turn them into magazine covers. We had to do the makeup, styling ,set design, and photography all by ourselves. This was my first opportunity where I had complete creative control over the content I was creating and I fell in love with the process of constructing a photoshoot from the ground up. I scouted a model, who was a grade younger than me, went to thrift stores to find wardrobe to build outfits, and two of my classmates who would eventually become a part of my creative team and still assist me to this day helped me with the model’s makeup. I would use bed sheets for backdrops and take pictures around my high school’s campus or in my garage. I enjoyed problem-solving, planning, and watching my ideas come to fruition. I have been taking pictures and creative directing ever since. I remember begging my parents for my camera and backdrop set up for Christmas so I could stop renting the school’s equipment.
I started creating my photographic self-portraits, personal conceptual works, and freelance works for individuals and brands. I currently attend the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland as a freshman where I am majoring in photography.
What I think sets me apart from others is the way I approach executing my ideas and my creative process. I commonly draw inspiration from my life experiences but I love to talk about them in my photography through a very stylized approach. Stylistically I often draw inspiration from the many different sources (textures, materials, music, old memories, sayings, moods/feelings I want to create, etc) so I make sure I keep a notebook on me or write my ideas in my phone. Often I just mark down keywords in random orders and circle back them to compose concrete ideas which I tie into my life. Even though I often draw inspiration from personal experiences, I never want my work to be too one-dimensional where my audience cannot be a part of the conversation. My work not only shares my stories but aims for inclusivity. I want my audience to see themselves in my photos. I want to use my photography to create spaces where people who look like me or may have experienced similar things can seek refuge and find a safe space in my work.
I am most proud of my growth as an artist. I have been practicing art since I was a child, but I have only been doing photography and creative direction for three years now. In the past three years, I have learned so much and I am excited to continue to learn and grow my passion. Especially attended MICA I have been exposed to many different mediums so early and I continue to push myself as a creative. I believe my desire to learn and willingness to explore and expand is what I am most proud of as a creative. The main thing I would like my potential clients/followers/fans to know about me and the work that I do is that I believe no idea is too big or too small; too ambitious or too lackadaisical. Every idea belongs somewhere. The world needs more creatives more idea makers and executors and if you can envision it no matter how your ideas manifest trust them and trust yourself because it can be done.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having the ability to bring your ideas to life in any way you can conceptualize. Being able to imagine an idea and go through all the steps and processes to birth your creation makes the result so much more rewarding. When creating you often take risks; not everything often comes out how you intend, but on the journey you often figure more out about yourself and your art. The processes you take help you experiment which helps you grow. Being an artist or creative isn’t just about your finalized work even though it is what a wide range of your audience sees, but it is about how you got to that point. I believe the process of creating is just as beautiful as the creation itself and being a part of a community that personally gets to live in that process is the most fulfilling and meaningful part of being an artist.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In school, it was often enforced in my art career that to be good in art you had to be the best. If you weren’t winning competitions, getting national recognition, if you were not top of your class, or winning in every regard you weren’t good enough. Competition was pushed heavily and often my classmates were pitted against each other. I picked up this competitive nature and truly started to think if I wasn’t the best in the room my art wasn’t held to the same value as those around me. On a positive note, it pushed me to work very hard to achieve a gold standard for myself and my art but at the same time, I was constantly comparing myself to those around me. It’s good to want to push yourself but when your intentions are not for the betterment of the fulfillment of self it can become destructive. So destructive to the point that if the competition was not involved I would feel unaccomplished almost as if what I created was pointless. I had to unlearn this mentality. I knew it was becoming toxic when I began to tie my accomplishments into my worth. If I wasn’t an artist what was I? After a lot of self-reflection, I was able to re-evaluate my intentions and healthily relearn my craft. Now I create art for myself intending to tell my stories and build a community around my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/view/alainaxart/home
- Instagram: alainashotme
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-lurry-b4a123248
Image Credits
Photographer: @simeon.kelley Photographer: @lostkidsfindaway