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Eva Laurent
@cometwanders
Travel photographer based in Australia
My name is Eva Laurent, I am a 32 years-old French woman living in Australia. When I was a child, I played a lot with a Konica tomato film camera. In the third grade, after an excursion, I used all the film of the camera to photograph my friends. I think that is where my passion for photography had its first root, and maybe also when my enthusiasm for photographing people started (though my mom was not so happy to waste a film on that). It was only years later, when I was 21, that I really began to use photography to keep and share memories of my travels, and it quickly became one of my main passions.
I didn’t travel much during my childhood but through movies and books I discovered India and its culture; it has been my dream to travel around Asia since as long as I remember. As soon as I got my first student job I worked a lot of hours and saved what I could to buy a DSLR camera and to go travel. I first started with Istanbul and Malaysia and as most people say, when you get the travel virus you can’t stop.
"So just after coming back from Malaysia, I was already planning my next travel, this time for a long period."
"After two years as an independent neuropsychologist, I quit this job that I liked so much to go travel for almost two years."
I travelled around the world as a solo female adventurer and I loved it. But since the last few years I’ve been travelling as a couple. This has brought a new dimension to my travels; being able to share all these beautiful and surreal moments with someone you know so well is very special. Plus, it helped me to slow down, take more time in a place, be fine with not ticking all the top places to see in a country. Personally I sometimes forgot to really enjoy a place because I wanted to do so much but as a result of traveling together I learned to rather immerse ourselves, take on the experience we live and explore out of the beaten path places.
"Discovering new cultures and travelling enables us to open up our minds and our hearts."
Each country we have visited has left a different impact on us. For example, when going around the isolated island of Ambrym in Vanuatu, I first experienced what it is to reconnect with nature, and how it affects your heart and soul positively. In Tanzania, I found my inner child, playing and fishing with some women, and I realized how important it is to keep your inner child alive. Then in India, I learned about the power of enthusiasm and determination in an Autism centre, where mothers were doing an amazing job despite no fund. And in Iran, I experienced a new dimension of friendliness when talking to Iranians in the street; the power of being altruist and generous without expecting nothing in return.
"However, travelling sometimes also opens our eyes on our weaknesses."
I realized the devastating pollution impact we leave behind us by seeing the piles of plastic hidden in the jungle of the paradisiacal Perhentian islands. The world privileges that benefit white over non-white people and the racism when travelling through Namibia. And the existing occidental beauty idealism when travelling in South East Asia and in India, where people queue to take pictures of any occidental person while I personally think Indian women are so stunning. There are plenty of moments like these to internalise and use to help us become a better human being.
"These moments can be life changing depending on what message we take out of them and what we do with that message."
Again, each country has its impact, may it be ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and although this depends a lot on your point of view and classifying is not something I like to do, there is always something you can take away from any kind of experience and turn it into something positive. People often ask what our favourite country is and it is so hard to choose. The locals definitely play a huge role in our choice of most special travels. We love meeting and discussing with locals. Those moments are always the ones we remember the most after coming back from a travel. Plus, the locals always have so many hidden gems to recommend. But thinking about it, probably Vanuatu, Nepal and Iran were the most special experiences. It’s the combination of amazing landscapes with a rich culture and lovely people. For example, every single person we met in Iran had such a warm big heart and was so generous.
"My love for photography was soon my passion, even beyond travels."
I enjoy capturing instants in my everyday life and capturing people in special occasions. I want my photographs to translate what I live, my experiences, my discoveries, my moments of joy and not specifically do something to take a picture of it. Photography is not my goal per se but rather my way to express myself. I will definitely not drive hours and wait long times to make a special shot I have in mind. I am much more an impulsive photographer. I will often go on little adventures with my husband or my friends and take my camera along to do a reportage of those instants. Living in Australia has been so great for that, it’s easy to escape the city life and being in the wild without seeing many people around.
"I enjoy hiking and camping trips, as well as having a hot coffee cup or a fresh beer with stunning views in front of me."
Nowadays, it is so easy for many people to travel on the other side of the world and with the social medias we have this tendency of ticking off the top destinations searching to redo the perfect Instagram photo we have seen. This way of travelling and photographing does not make sense to me. However, I have to say, it is sometimes hard to take a step back and maintain authenticity in my travels and photography and I still need to work on this pressure I put on myself by always reminding me that is totally fine if I do not see the top 10 sights. I think that it’s important for a photo to translate the photographer’s personality and his/her interpretation rather than imitating a photo you have seen on social media. So, I often try to admire places differently, to find a specific angle and the right composition to convey my emotions at that moment.
"I love capturing with wide angles and having a person in it, often my husband, so we can realize how little we are in this big stunning nature."
Of course the editing is an essential step too when it comes to translating the photographer’s personality and interpretating. Personally I want to keep the photos as natural and real as possible while being able to touch and talk to people watching the photo. I love editing pictures whilst listening to folk country music, music that inspires me a lot in my photography. I like my photos to be moody and faded to emphasise the details rather than being oppressing by bright colours. When capturing portraits, I want the watcher to be impacted and the photo to bring an emotion and a message. I want to tell the story of the places and the beautiful people I meet along the roads. I would say that my first goal when I share photos on social medias is to allow people to escape their busy daily routine by showing them the magic that exist on this beautiful planet. Also, by showing all these natural wonders, I hope that people realize the necessity and urge of protecting our Earth.
"Finally, I hope to help break our stereotypical opinions by sharing all the beautiful smiles and experiences of people around the world."
I think photography helped me to find beauty and magic in every details and situations. It made me pay attention to small details and appreciate them. We do not need to go far away from where we live to find natural beauties. Photography also showed me it is really important to see things (or situations) from different angles. For example, an ugly brown puddle photographed from a certain angle can reveal magic reflections. It all depends on the perspective you take on, as with everything in life.
"In the future, I would like photography and travels to be a more important part of my life."
I like working with children with special needs too much for travel photography to be my main job, but I would still like to become a professional travel photographer. In several years from now, we see ourselves slow travelling around the world, in a more sustainable manner that we do now, spending a month in a place, exploring its natural surroundings, spending time to get to know the locals, immersing ourselves and making photography reportages of those special moments. We see ourselves travelling with our (future) children and educating them on how to protect these wonders as well as showing them how to respect others, their differences and learn from all the different people and personalities in this big world.
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