Daily Inspiration: Meet Mad Harper

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mad Harper.

Hi Mad, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in the beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. I was extremely lucky to grow up in the bubbling creative household that I did, and to know that I had the support and freedom to choose a creative path for myself. I have always known that I wanted to be an artist; but what kind of artist, that was still to be defined. My creative life actually started on the stage. Singing. Dancing. Acting. From a very young age, I was working professionally in the theatre across Canada and the United States. So my childhood was certainly not the experience that most kids were having. It consumed all parts of my life. But my creative thirst didn’t begin and end on the stage. I have always been intrigued by all aspects of a production; not only what is in front of an audience or a camera, but what is happening behind the scenes of it all. This led me to start exploring other creative avenues; everything from production design, prop and wardrobe styling, and art direction. As an actress, the most exciting part is to enter into an entirely new world. The objects, the clothes, the feel of it all. Every detail is part of the story, the worlds that these characters and people inhabit. And I wanted to have a hand in making that. Now, I have always had a camera with me, a simple point and shoot Canon Powershot. When I started taking photos of my production work, I knew then I wanted to create and construct more through my lens. I just had never allowed myself the opportunity and space to try. Performing will always be a part of who I am, it’s just that now I have a different stage so to speak within my camera. So from Vancouver to New York, I now find myself today living in Los Angeles, in this creative intersectional melting pot. It is an incredible city to both live and work in as an artist and photographer.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This has not been a smooth road by any means. The life of a creative is not an easy one. That is for certain. There are constant bumps you have to jump around and walls you crash into time and time again. But it is learning how to accept that these bumps are inevitable! You are never going to outrun them or dodge them completely. But you learn how to get over and through them, and better yet, how to actually use it in your work. They are meant to challenge us creatively, to hold a mirror up to ourselves in a sense. For myself, entering into this realm of photography was a nerve-wracking place to be. To step away from my life as an actress and into this unknown that I never knew if I could do, let alone be good at. TERRIFYING! I had to learn everything from scratch. Square one. Sure I had used a camera before, but the technical aspects of photography are not something you learn overnight. But hiding under all that fear was excitement. Excitement to explore my visual impulses, my desires and ideas. The excitement to now be the one writing the script and not the one reciting it. I had to really shift the way I carried and thought about myself. As a photographer, you are choosing what is in the frame, every detail and choice is entirely your own. And that was a new place for me to be as an artist. And sometimes a scary place! But I think the fear of failure is something everyone can relate to, and as creatives we have an even more special relationship to it. But moving through my fear, I discovered my power. Through my lens, there were endless possibilities and a complete freedom to explore. If I had let the fear of failure stop me, which believe me there were many moments, I never could have made this leap.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a commercial and fine art photographer, working out of my studio here in Los Angeles where I create tangible visual worlds. I have exhibited in galleries across the United States, most recently with Praxis Gallery where I was awarded an honorable mention, and here locally in Hermosa Beach with Shockboxx Gallery. A lot of my work, I am physically working my images, capturing and recapturing prints and turning them into objects if you will. My fine artwork involves self-portraiture, where I am both photographer and subject, often using the landscapes found here directly in Hollywood and Los Angeles for my backdrops. Almost everything you see within my photographs are constructed and made by hand in my fine art as well as my commercial and fashion work. I love collaborating with brands, models and artists to create their own personal visual worlds. Bringing my knowledge of storytelling into these fashion and beauty spaces. You can see my work published in Vogue Latin America, Vogue Italia, Mob Journal, and the most recent cover of PUMP magazine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.madharperstudios.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mharpersmith/?hl=en

Image Credits
Mad Harper