Bare legs, sunshine-filled mornings and days spent frolicking in nature are so close we can feel it; these glowy piccies from Marlee Banta will help fill the gap until we're shoe-free again. We also had a chat with the clever snapper to find out more about how she developed her pretty-as-pie style.



What is your name and how old are you? My name is Marlee Meghan Banta and I am 20 years of age, born in the heat of summer in the year of 1994.

How does where you live affect your photography? Well, I was born here in Portland, OR but my parents transferred me to Arizona when I was just three and I basically grew up in the desert until I was 12, when they shuffled me back to Portland. Throughout my whole life, Oregon was kind of a fairytale to me; not something that could ever really be my reality again and I remember when we first arrived, it felt like I was in a story book, travelling up this little, narrow, pine tree-lined thoroughfare, past an old diner and wispy fog towards the place I would call home. I think around this same time was actually when I felt the need to start taking photos to capture this rainforest, and maybe to remind my emotional pre-teen mind of all the beauty that surrounds me.



What areas, things or people in your neighbourhood do you most like to photograph? I am a really nostalgic person by nature and I love to photograph fleeting moments in my life, which usually involves close friends, lovers, and family simply doing what they do and what we do together. I also notice I am kind of a painterly photographer sometimes, too. I think because I also draw and paint I tend to be this way, just in the way that I like to capture the feelings of old memories with hazy double exposures and melancholic set ups from a memory.

What do you shoot on (digital or analogue) and why do you choose to use that type? I shoot exclusively analogue as of now because I think there is some magic in taking photos of a moment in time and not knowing what they will look like until after they are developed. In a way, it feels like how it's supposed to be; nothing is forced and usually you can't go back and reshoot. Besides, there is something so lovely in film that I have never seen in digital, whether it be the grain, strange light leaks, pretty pools of light, or the hazy dream-like colours my camera tends to give me.

What kinds of ideas are you working on at the moment? Right now, I really want to take raw and possibly moody photos of people in their "happy place" or the place they go to think and ponder life. I also really want to set up an arts and crafts day with my friends with all of our many art supplies, materials, and a record playing softly in the background, mostly because I need something like that therapeutically but also because I intend to shoot photos of us all blissed out, too. I always have a new idea on the brain and lately have been needing to shoot daily.



When it comes to taking photos, do you have more of a controlled/set-up or spontaneous style? Well, like I said earlier, I really do both. I use my camera as sort of a memory keeper and an artistic tool, like a sort of paintbrush. Life is neither all beautiful nor all ugly, and beautiful things happen so spontaneously sometimes and fade away into your mind unless you capture them quickly. Some memories linger in a soft haze in your mind for you to think about while looking out a bus window, and it's these thoughts that I can take inspiration from and create an image with later on.

What advice can you offer on finding your personal style or aesthetic? Oh, that's a good question. Maybe just to follow your heart, as cheesy as that sounds, wear that heart out on your sleeve, speak meaningfully and shoot meaningfully too, be vulnerable, and let your work be as vulnerable as your most vulnerable self. I'm still learning this one myself though.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in modern times as a photographer? Well, I really did start off shooting with so much vulnerability, (I still do) with work that is nothing short of love, pain, and a need to make sense of this wild world, find the beauty and hold it near to me. What hurts is my lack of knowledge on how to market myself and maybe even the fact that I HAVE TO if I want this to be my career (because I think I do. Art is all I can do with any sort of conviction and ease). And just seeing photography careers happening for other people while I am still just shooting for myself, well, it gets you down sometimes.



What are your thoughts on the rise of mobile phone photography and Instagram? Honestly, I waited so long to get a smart phone and took so much pride in my ability to live without it, to get in touch with nature, and be true to another time on some level. Finally, last Christmas, I got one and I have to admit that it's opened up quite a few doors for me and my photography, and magazines have been reaching out to me and I am really thankful for that.

What other photographers do you love? I really love this German photographer named Tina Sosna. There are also so many people around me in Oregon that are so inspiring, such as Brinkley Capriola and Elisabeth Kokesh-Carhart. Gosh, there are SO many talented artists and I feel so unbelievably lucky to live in a world with so much art and it's hard to name just a few photographers, honestly.

What do you enjoy doing when not taking photos? When I'm not taking photos, I like to dance to live music, take mental photos (which I think are sometimes the best kind of photos), take small trips to lovely locations, swim, feel, think, write, laugh, and love.



Where can we see more of your work? Right now, you can find me on Instagram @marleemeghanbanta or on Flickr and funnily enough, I don't have a website yet but I should within the month! That's one of my goals over the next few weeks.