Local photographer a social media hit in lockdown

Local photographer Lara Cowan has gained hundreds of followers on Instagram in a few weeks after being inspired to capture more images in lockdown.

Spurred on by her children photographer Lara Cowan used some of her lockdown time to upload the images she captured over the years onto her Instagram.

“I have felt quite lost in lockdown as I know so many people have, so I decided to start to load more photos to Instagram. This has given me a sense of purpose and a platform for my photos,” she said.

“It has also given me the encouragement I needed to get out and about with the camera”

That camera is a Fujifilm XT3 with an 18-135mm lens.

“As a beginner this gives a really good range, it is wide enough for landscape photography and is narrow enough for portraiture and sports photography, as you can see from my photos, I love to capture a wide range of subjects,” she said.

“If I had to choose my favourite subject to capture, it is probably whatever moves me, whether that is a beautiful view or an expression on someone's face.”

“We are so lucky in Gibraltar to have the most incredible scenery all around us,” she added.

Ms Cowan likes to go running and with her iPhone camera in tow she can snap while on the go.

“When I go running round the Rock it is often early morning the sea and sky look the most beautiful, so I stop and take a photo whenever I am inspired by the view,” she said.

“When I go walking, I take my Fuji camera and usually have no idea what I will capture on the way.”

“I love the uncertainty of this, although I will often head towards the lighthouse at sunset because we are just so blessed here to have the most incredible colours in the sky.”

While she loved spending lockdown in Gibraltar, she would pick Asia if the Rock was not an option.

“If I had to be somewhere else in lockdown it would be Asia.”

“I was lucky enough to visit Singapore and Kuala Lumpur just before lockdown last year and it was incredible, such a completely different culture, I managed to take some amazing photos and was sad to have to leave early to go into isolation.”

As with most people creative flow can be stunted during lockdown and Ms Cowen admits that until she thought of uploading photos to Instagram she probably had lost her flow.

“[Instagram] definitely gave the photography more purpose. It also has really encouraged me, I have had so many lovely comments on my photos and I have gone from 40 followers to 900 in a few weeks,” she said.