Meet Lauren Maier

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Maier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

I’ll start this by saying that I don’t think anyone truly overcomes imposter syndrome, but I do think you can “beat” it by believing that everyone else deals with it too.

I dabble in so many different forms of art (including, but not limited to, painting, drawing, photography, embroidery, knitting, whittling, and writing) that it’s easy to think of them as “mere” hobbies despite selling and being commissioned for all of them and publishing my first book. And “mere” hobbies can’t compete with those abstract professionals who make a full living off of it.

I can’t remember where, but I once read that, “your art never stops looking like your art.” Imposter syndrome happens because your art, whatever it may be, doesn’t look like the art of those that you admire because it will always look like you’ve done it. Because you did. You see your own art as a conglomeration of what went into making it, including all the failures and setbacks, but to an outside viewer, it just looks like art (probably very lovely art). Sometimes, when I look at old photos I’ve taken, or paintings I’ve done, or paragraphs I’ve written and have forgotten about, I’m wowed because for just a second, it’s not something I created, but something I find objectively pleasing. I keep those memories close when I start to feel the imposter syndrome creeping in.

Ultimately, you can’t be an imposter when creating something new. Be authentic to who you are and someone, somewhere will respond to it, and more will always follow.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Though I play around with a new art form about every other month, my main focus has always been photography and writing. I am enormously inspired by nature and try to capture it as much as possible with a combination of the two.

I’ve had my photography business for more than a decade now and I mainly sell prints through my website (laurenmaier.com) and will occasionally publish through magazines. I really enjoy traveling all over the world, but even more than that, I have had the pleasure of moving to new, beautiful places every few months so that I can get to know it in depth. When you just travel to a place for a day or a week, you only get to see the highlights – which are highlights for a reason, but not nearly the full picture. When you live somewhere, you get to take the scenic route (usually many, many times!) and that’s what I love most about photography; you learn to look for, and appreciate, the little things.

At this time, I don’t rely on it solely for an income, but it pays for itself.

My other project that has been a decade in the making is my first book! I had been working on it on and off for a loooong time and promised myself that I would look into publishing if I ever finished the sequel because I knew I’d lose interest in working on it if I had to get it done. I finished the second book last summer and started talking with an editor to get the first one ready. I went with a hybrid-publication route where I work with an editor and a distributor, but not a whole publication company. This is a much more affordable route that still provides some quality control and as-needed help.

The book is called ‘Of Snow and Light’ and is a young adult fantasy/adventure story with plenty of inspiration from nature and my travels. It’s available for print or as an ebook wherever you buy books!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Make sure you enjoy it. This seems like an obvious one, but I’ve met so many incredibly talented artists that try to conform to what they think everybody will like that they lose what makes them unique and eventually they lose their passion. In this age of social media trends, people feel like they have to hop on the bandwagon to get noticed, but in my experience, that takes away a lot of the authenticity of an artist. Do what you enjoy, and the right audience will find you.

2. Experiment. I can’t count the number of times my “style” has changed in every single one of my preferred art forms. A huge part of why I love practicing so many types of art is getting to experiment with so many types of art! For me, a pretty final product is a happy bi-product of doing something fun and I certainly don’t have fun doing the same thing over and over again.

3. Value yourself. It’s so, so easy to undervalue your own work, especially for artists who are just starting out. If you intend to sell your work, ask a like-community you trust what they would sell it for. You’ll get less as a newbie than someone established, but probably more than you’re thinking. (And exposure is almost never an acceptable form of payment).

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

To some extent, both (a very unhelpful answer, I know). Perhaps eighty percent of me says go all in on your strengths while twenty percent says improve upon other areas if you’re talking about a career path. If you’re talking about general life and hobbies and interests, I’d say the opposite. I’m all about trying new things!

For a career (particularly in the arts) I think it’s important to recognize your strengths and lean into them. They are who you are and what you’re likely trying to sell, so embrace them and improve upon them so that they become uniquely you.

The twenty percent of me that says to improve areas you aren’t strong in comes from personal experience. I can make art, I can price my art, but I hate getting people to notice my art. I have very little desire in marketing and therefore relatively little skill in it, but it’s a hugely important thing in the life of an independent artist so it’s something that I need to improve upon.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://laurenmaier.com
• Instagram: lmaierphoto
• Other: Bookshop – https://store.bookbaby.com/book/of-snow-and-light