Meet LiAnn Newby | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with LiAnn Newby and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi LiAnn, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
As a creative person, the work life balance is a bit different to someone with a traditional job. When you use your creativity to make a living as well as for pleasure, the challenge isn’t work life balance rather its balancing the work you do for other people verse the work you make for yourself. Freelancing at anything is a tricky profession because each persons threshold for freelance work verse personal work varies. What might work for one person may be complete chaos for someone else. When I first began pursing photography as a career I was a “yes” person accepting any and every gig I could get. I learned so much during that time because I was constantly practicing new skills for each new gig I would work. The burnout is inevitable though. My personal work is so important because it’s kind of like a reset for me creatively. It reminds me why I’m doing this and keeps me inspired and able to continue creating.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One of my favorite parts about photography and filmmaking is that it allows me to work on many different types of projects. One week I’ll be working on a fashion editorial photoshoot, the next a music video, the next an event or product shoot. I truly believe that you have to try something to decide whether or not you like it. Being able to work on various short term projects in a relatively short period of time has given me such a range of experiences that have gotten me to where I am today; doing photo and video for an agency and building up my passion projects that I didn’t feel like I could do before. Something that’s really important to me as a creative is the ability evolve, I never want to be stuck inside one genre.

I enjoy working on several projects at a time. My beginnings with photography are in portrait and fashion photography. I find so much inspiration in the human body, and would characterize my style with portraits as abstract editorial. I also shoot film, 35mm and medium format. In 2021 I started an abstract series called LiAnn Made Soup where I would manipulate the chemistry of color negative to create other worldly images that I got to show at 2 pop ups. During the pandemic I started working on a photo series called ‘This is Trash’ exploring the normalcy of litter in New York City. I frequently have a camera with me so I don’t miss any magic on the streets.
I am currently working at at agency called Sircle Media doing product photography and videography for “better for you” type CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands, another step in the journey!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Brooklyn, so if I were to show an out of state friend a good time I’d take them to places where New. Yorkers actually hangout. In the morning we’d get brunch somewhere new in Clinton Hill. Then we’d take a bike ride along the Hudson River Greenway. The thing about NYC is that there’s always something new to try. You could probably go do a different restaurant every day and still not hit all of them. At night we’d hit a burlesque show at The Slipper room or watch a show at Rockwood then checkout a speakeasy or jazz club. New York is one of the most diverse places in the country, anywhere you go you’re bound to meet someone with an insane story which really is the best part of the city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I began pursing photography professionally after graduating with a degree in something completely different. I moved to Brooklyn with my best friend growing up (Aidan), his brother (Brendan), and college roommate (Sierra). Aidan and Sierra had both gone to school for acting and are also creatives. When I first got to Brooklyn I was going to networking events in the sector that my degree was in but I just didn’t want to go. I was having more fun doing photoshoots and making videos with my roommates. I call that time in my life our “in the garage” phase. My roommates and I still frequently create together now! Sierra and I are producing our first large scale passion project in the upcoming months.

Website: lianngrahm.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liann.grahm/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liann-newby-34084a132/