Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sophie Lasher. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sophie, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
For me it’s variety! I’m an artist of many media and that’s what keeps me going. I’m primarily a photographer right now, but I’m also in the beginning stages of a printmaking business, I teach elementary art (which encompasses just about every medium), and I do graphic design for a queer startup. It sounds like a lot to juggle, but it’s actually my secret to creativity. When one type of art gets stuck or doesn’t quite work how I want it to, I just switch to a different one and it sparks completely different ideas.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have a lot of irons in the creative entrepreneurial fire at the moment. My main pursuit is my photography business (Sophie Lasher Photography) centered on telling queer stories through moody, film-inspired, movement-filled portraits. I’m obsessed with queer representation in mainstream media– it’s my soapbox topic and I could talk about it forever. There are so so many reasons I feel that queer stories need to be told and I just want to be a part of it in any way I can. In that vein, I recently started a sapphic print shop (@sapphoprintingco) on instagram. I adore printmaking as a process– it’s just the right balance of novelty and routine for my brain and I find it extremely meditative. I get to come up with little gay designs and turn them into something tangible and it’s just so much fun.
I’ve realized recently that I want to turn my artistic pursuits into something bigger than myself– I’m currently working on a really exciting project that will be the culmination of my experiences as a queer artist and as a social entrepreneur. My aim with this is to promote the telling of queer stories through art by fostering community among queer artists. It’s still in the very very beginning stages, but I can’t wait to share more about this passion project of mine.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Number one is creativity for sure. Obviously creativity is monumental in any artistic pursuit, but I find it to be really important to be a creative thinker as well. The ability to think outside the box is what led me to my entrepreneurial journey. When I was thinking about my career and what I want I want my life to look like, I realized it simply doesn’t exist yet, so I have to make it happen from scratch if I want to be passionate about what I do.
I think next would be my knowledge of the elements of art and principles of design. They really inform everything I do. No matter what form of art you’re working with, it all boils down to the basics. My first design class in college was all about the elements and principles as a foundation to any artistic pursuit and the experience really stuck with me. Dissecting art and breaking it down into these facts can be really cathartic and informative– I highly recommend building a strong base, learning the rules so that you know how best to break them.
I’m going to bring it back to college again for number three– I had a really great professor for my drawing class. Even though half the class was virtual (I took it in 2020), the class totally rerouted my brain and the way I see things. At the time it felt kind of tedious, we would just sit and draw still lives for three hours at a time three times a week, but her tips and tricks completely changed the way I approach drawing anything. Measuring something you’re looking at in proportion to your pencil? Life changing. Drawing is the basis of a lot of the art I do, so that skill comes in handy quite frequently.
Advice: think outside the box, build a strong foundation, and practice until you feel like you can’t anymore (then practice some more).
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am definitely looking for people to collaborate with on this new passion project I’m working on! I can’t reveal too much about it yet, but let’s just say if you’re a queer artist in any form or you’re passionate about fostering queer art and producing queer media, I have a really cool opportunity for you as a part of my startup community. Bonus points if you’re in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area. Shoot me an email at [email protected] if you want details!
Since that was only a little baby answer, I’m also going to tell you about the book that ignited my love for queer media. I first read Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston a couple years ago and I was immediately obsessed. The story, the writing style; I absolutely lost my mind. I had read books with queer characters, but never one where the main story line was a bisexual awakening and a queer relationship and it was all written by a nonbinary author. In that moment, it became my favorite book, but when I tucked it away on the shelf, it got tucked away in my brain too (thank you, lack of object permanence).
When I took it out to reread the next year, I was at a totally different place in my life and my business. The first time I read it, I was teaching full time, I was completely overwhelmed, and my business had taken a backseat. This time, it was summer break, I felt like a person again, and my business had come back to the forefront. The second time through this book that had become my very favorite, I was more focused on how completely I related to parts of it and how whole that made me feel. It changed my life a little–it was confirmation that stories like mine matter, and that telling them really makes a difference. I had that experience for the first time at 22, and I can only imagine if I had read a queer book or seen a queer TV show or even seen a happy queer couple in a photo online when I was younger and how that would have changed the trajectory of my journey both in my career and as a queer person. So, when I read that book for a second time, it became my life’s mission to create queer media–whether that be by photographing queer couples, making little gay prints, fostering community among queer artists, or even writing my own queer novel–and to help others do the same (thanks for the revelation, CMQ).
Contact Info:
- Website: sophielasherphotography.com
- Instagram: @sophielasherphotography, @sapphoprintingco
Image Credits
Ashton Sotiro
