BEHIND THE LENS

From surf shoots in the Maldives to road-tripping across the Baltic states, we go behind the lens with commercial and editorial photographer, Lauryn Ishak

Writer: Phoebe Harper | Photography: Lauryn Ishak

AN INDONESIAN-BORN photographer fluent in three languages, Lauryn Ishak has a truly international outlook, having lived in Germany, Indonesia, Hong Kong, New York, and Switzerland. For the past 11 years, Ishak has honed her craft as a commercial and editorial photographer, specialising in travel, lifestyle, hospitality, food and beverage, and portrait photography. Her work has graced the pages of the New York Times (NYT), Bloomberg, Monocle and National Geographic amongst other prestigious publications, and she frequently engages in brand partnerships with both Sony and Apple. We catch up with her from her base in Singapore for some real insight into the life of a travel photographer.

Outlook Travel (OT): Tell us about your career and how you first became interested in photography.

Lauryn Ishak (LI): I got started in photography because of my late father. As an amateur hobbyist photographer, he encouraged me to take classes in school. I used to hear stories about how he would go and photograph landscapes, people and places when he had the time - it was truly a passion of his.

I liked photography from the get-go and began my education with the Photography & Imaging programme at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. During my studies, I interned at National Geographic Adventure magazine when it was still in publication and worked for a commercial advertising photographer’s studio. All these varied experiences cemented the fact that I love travelling and experiencing the world. After graduation, I moved back to Singapore to start my career in photography.

For the first five years, I wanted to see where I would land in the industry. I knocked on a lot of doors, got in touch with many photographers I admired to ask for advice, did some assisting, shot my own travel work in my off time, and also self-funded a couple of trips to create a portfolio. It all paid off when I pitched a story for a road trip on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores. It was picked up by Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia and led to my first feature story. It is still one of the best things I did. Fast forward to today, and I am humbled to have an ongoing partnership with amazing clients like NYT, Bloomberg, Monocle, and National Geographic.

Today, it can be difficult to balance work and my own personal photography. Work takes up a lot of my time, meaning I tend to take fewer photos during personal travel, but it becomes more pure, capturing memories and feelings and being able to relive them and/or share them with others, which in its essence is what photography is about.

OT: How would you describe your style of photography?

LI: Depending on whether I am shooting commercially or editorially, my style can be mixed. Commercial briefs are “safer” as they need to appeal to a broad audience, as well as have a specific purpose in mind. Editorially, I have more of a free rein to illustrate a story as I see fit. Typically, I like to shoot and present situations, places, and interactions in a natural way, that always brings creativity.

I aim for my images to bring my audience on a journey with me. Through my work, I have been fortunate to see the world in ways that may not always be accessible to everyone – off hours boat trips in Sri Lanka to capture pods of dolphins, early morning mountan climbs in Indonesia, behind the scenes tours at breweries and wineries in Switzerland, and kitchen access at many top restaurants.