Digital Influencers Australia: Lauren Bath Interview

Image by Australia’s first professional Instagrammer Lauren Bath

1) With technology becoming lighter & more innovative (iPhones, iPads, Mavic Pro drones etc) what gear & equipment do you now travel with?

There is basically an unlimited amount of gear and technology you could choose to work with; drones, underwater housing, flash and lighting solutions, 360 degree cameras, virtual reality tech and more. For me though, I try not to complicate my workflow.

I’m shooting predominantly with the Olympus system for my stills photography. It’s light and packed with innovation and I use the Olympus E-M1 Mark II with a full suite of professional glass.

I also carry an underwater housing (Olympus) on jobs that I’ll be in the water.

So far I’ve steered clear of drones as I know that a drone will distract me from my other photography and I’m also very conscious of the weight and size of my bags with my full time travel schedule.

Digital influencers Australia: Lauren Bath photograph

2) What do you pack, in comparison to a few years ago?

To be honest everything is more or less the same. My clothes and footwear differs from job to job depending on the season and itinerary but my equipment is consistent.

I’ve always travelled with enough spare gear to cover me if something breaks or is stolen. 2-3 camera bodies, lot’s of lenses and spare phones for work.

I’ve upgraded on a few bits and pieces, for example I now use a carbon fibre Gitzo tripod instead of a Manfrotto tripod. The same company makes them both but Gitzo is more premium.

Another Lauren Bath classic

3) What tools / marketplace do you use for your travel images? (Website / Stock photo sites etc)

I use Instagram predominantly but also utilise Facebook, Google+, Steller, Trover and Twitter plus my website is here. I use RooM the Agency for stock.

4) How do you go about planning your adventure travel? (Online tools / Apps / Research Destination etc)

A lot of my travel is through clients and they take care of a lot of the logistics and locations. For personal travel I use Google, social media and friends for suggestions and occasionally use a travel agent to help me book everything in, especially on more complicated and expensive trips. It’s always good to have a second set of eyes on things.

Digital influencers Australia: Lauren Bath photograph

5) How do you find the balance in life between your mission (Your creativity etc) and everything else?

The trick is to keep a balance between work travel and personal travel. I’ve pretty much given up on work life balance as I love my work and to me it’s more of a lifestyle than a job. I also want to find more time to work on conservation projects and on passion projects.

6) If you could take your photography in any direction without fear of rejection or failure, where would it lead? What new things would you try?

If money weren’t a factor I would work almost exclusively on conservation projects and traveling to remote and troubled destinations to shed a light on the struggles.

I love portrait work and wilderness photography so I’d spend most of my creative energy on those pursuits. As for my business energy, I’d love to continue to do more speaking but to merge from workshops and informative sessions to inspirational and motivational speaking.