Questions With Lexi Goodland | IWD2019

Lexi is yet another hard working creative who dedicates her spare time to us at CLUNK Magazine. Her dedication and passion for her work is inspiring and we cannot wait to see what she achieved throughout the years. Although Lexi is a recent team member of CLUNK she has already made an incredible impact, we are forever grateful for her work.

CLUNK: How did you get into photography?

Lexi: I’ve always loved taking photos, I think everyone does. You always see people everywhere all around you taking photos, granted most just take a few on their phone every now and again and it’s not a serious thing for them, but people love to capture special moments in a permanent form. I think for me, it become more of an actual hobby and interest when I started going to more intimate gigs in sixth form. Some of my friends and I were into quite small “indie” bands so every time we would see them play live it would be in very small venues with a maximum of 100 people. I would always see a photographer right at the front taking pictures, getting on stage and being really involved with the band and I would just think, man, I want to do that. Being at a creative arts university has just been the perfect breeding ground for that interest I have in music photography, having so many talented musicians and performers constantly showcasing their work throughout the town, and also being friends with many of them, has provided so many opportunities for me to dive right in and start developing my work.

CLUNK: Was there any person that inspired you to pick up a camera?

Lexi: My twin sister, Danielle; she was always the photographer in the family. She actually studied photography at A-level and I remember thinking how much fun it looked to go out and take really cool, professional looking pictures, and now she’s studying Fashion Photography at Falmouth University. Her work has always inspired me, even when I’m doing shoots myself now there will always be a little voice in my head saying “what would Danielle do now” or “how would Danielle approach this”. I will always have her to thank for inspiring me.

“I think I have been very lucky in life in that I haven’t much felt any gender inequality to a very personal degree”
Lexi Goodland

CLUNK: What has been your experience being a female photographer?

Lexi: It’s been pretty great actually, I have yet to feel like my gender is inhibiting my work (fingers crossed) but I am fully aware of other women who have found that their gender has posed problems for them and what they are doing. I think I have been very lucky in life in that I haven’t much felt any gender inequality to a very personal degree. That might just be out of sheer luck, or it might be because the people I generally surround myself with are those who believe in equality, who knows, but my gender is something I will always be proud of, no matter what I am doing.

CLUNK: You focus on music photography but are there any other areas you’d like to explore?

Lexi: I would absolutely love to explore documentary photography. As a journalism student, documenting life and real stories is something I have studied for the last three years. Although my course has predominantly focussed on journalistic writing, we have had the opportunity to explore the more visual elements of the field, including both film and photography, which were areas I happened to really excel at. I’m actually currently in the midst of creating a mini video documentary which has been my first proper taste of documentary work but it has definitely proven to me that documentary photography is something I will definitely want to pursue in more depth at some point in my life.

CLUNK: What advice can you pass on to other aspiring female photographers?

Lexi: Do not be disheartened! I have found that it is so easy to doubt yourself and to doubt the work you are producing because it always feels like there are people out there doing so much better than you. Cut yourself some slack, there will always be people out there who will take better pictures than you, but that in no way means that your work is any less deserving or worthy of recognition and praise.