Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Weiss
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hi There! My name is Lauren Weiss, I am 28, and I’m an artist a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles. How I got started has strong roots in my childhood. I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri and always loved art and the Ocean. Thinking back as far as I can remember I always wanted to be a Marine Biologist, and I specifically wanted to study sharks, but I also was always incredibly preoccupied with making art. In High School ( Incarnate word academy the best school ever) I was nervous about what path would be right for me between art and science. Once I went to college, I started in Bio with plans to transfer to a coastal school, but quickly realized I needed to pursue a move creative path to feel authentic to myself.
I went through art school, and was particularly struggling what medium I wanted to focus on. I LOVED painting, photography, and ceramics. I worked with all three mediums but started to notice that my childhood interest in photography was spilling over into my academic interests. At the time I was very fortunate and was afforded the opportunity to travel. I visited 16 different countries in the span of 2 years, and through that time I learned SO much through travel photography and really refined a lot of my skills and what I know now. At this time though, I still thought that I would ultimately become a painter.
After I graduated college in Saint Louis, I moved to Philadelphia with my then boyfriend (now husband, Logan) and set up a painting studio in our apartment. I was determined to focus on painting and make painting work as my primary job. What I didn’t realize was that I was on a fast track to creative burnout and I didn’t know how to fix it. I more often then not felt like a failure, like I didn’t have a good artist community around me, and confused about if I ruined my life by going to art school and would now be resigned to working a job I knew I would hate for the rest of my life. I know that sounds dramatic but I truly felt so hopeless and like I had failed myself for not sticking with biology.
Fast forward three years and a pandemic later, Logan and I found ourselves in Los Angeles a mile away from the beach. Having a change of environment and pace was INCREDIBLY healing to not only my burnout and creative brain but my inner child. Having access to the ocean was a true game changer. When we moved here, it felt like the stars aligned and the universe kind of gave us all we needed for everything to transition so smoothly. I worked a few jobs here to give myself a sense of community, and slowly found myself coming up with an idea for a business.
When I started it, Pathos.co was so different than it is now. It’s amazing looking back on the roots because it was truly soooo different! I started Pathos.co with the idea of collecting beach trash and somehow working with that and pottery. After burning out with that Idea I felt myself being pulled back into underwater photography, which I did so much of during a period of my life when I lived on the gulf coast of Florida- 7 years ago. I missed it so much and working with the water. I actually was able to practice a lot of my underwater photography through traveling. I have seen incredible coral reefs and life teeming below the surface and I always wanted to protect that. in 2023 I traveled again (this always reignites my creative spark) to Italy. It was so special and felt so healing to experience the world somewhere else. once I came home, it felt like the stars aligned again when I was asked to come out to Catalina Island and do photography work with a non-profit studying kelp and invasive species threatening the eco systems of the kelp forests here in California.
After working with the non-profit and traveling It became really clear to me that I need to start working primarily as a photographer, and offer art on the side. Photography is so rewarding because It fosters so many beautiful connections and takes you places you wouldn’t expect. Now I work all around Southern California with ethical and sustainable brands to promote a more conscious approach to consumerism, with individuals doing lifestyle photography, and underwater with divers and surfers. It’s been this incredible journey getting here. Growing up I always knew I wanted to work for myself, and its really rewarding to be my own boss It’s amazing to me that the themes of what I do now have kind of always been intertwined with the trajectory of my life. Is it fate? I don’t know but I’m certainly not mad about it!
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?
I know I touched on it before but it’s been somewhat of a bumpy road!
A few years ago, around 2019-2021 I really battled with the idea that I needed to fulfill certain expectations before I was a certain age. Graduating and not really having a clear career path that worked out was a terrifying experience, and it was doubled down with feelings of loneliness and a lack of community which led to A LOT of anxiety. I felt like I made a horrible decision to go into art and not something more practical, which is somewhat Ironic because I received my BFA in design, but could never find an agency that aligned with my values or goals. More often than not I was evaluating my life through the lens of comparison which I know is the number one thing I shouldn’t have been doing at the time. I was kicking myself while I was already down for not sticking with biology. In many ways I felt like I was failing myself for not sticking to what the plan was that I had settled on for nearly my entire life.
I really needed to heal this part of myself because It not only bled into my personal life and relationships but also professionally. It was a really difficult time trying to figure out what the best path for success and healing would be. It was a messy confusing time, and then the pandemic happened. I think in a weird way, I started to feel a sense of solidarity and relatability during lockdown, I finally could relate to people experiencing the feelings of isolation and loneliness, which created a very bizarre sense of community.
It was right around the end of lockdown that we decided to move to California. I think when something that is so deeply traumatizing in a way happens, in my experience having a change of pace and scenery is so beneficial. We got lucky that moving here led us right to the ocean. Having that truly healed my brain chemistry. I felt so much more at peace, and like little me could finally come home in a sense.
A lot of times I am asked about how I became so passionate and confident about what I do now, and I think long story short is that I finally learned to listen to my inner child. I tried pivoting from that and it was not a pretty experience. coming back to this, as silly as it may sound, solved A LOT of my problems.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
It’s funny because I don’t really talk about my work much! I primarily am a photographer, I shoot digital and film. I specialize in working with sustainable brands and businesses to bring awareness to conscious consumerism. I have a lot of climate anxiety so working in a way that feels very selective with this area of clientele feels a little radical in a way. I also work with a vast array of clientele to bring them photos that feel very editorial and elevated instead of stiff and posed. I want to give my clients something that feels authentic and like I’m telling their story. And of course I do a lot of underwater work, I shoot a lot in the ocean and with water people. This recently feels like it’s pulling me in a more artistic direction though.
Recently I developed an alternative process of printmaking for my photos. I love it because Its completely sustainable and I only need a handful of elements: The sun, dye, paper, and a negative. I’ve been taking original photos of mine, converting them to negatives and letting the sun expose the image on the paper which has been prepared with photo sensitive dye. My goal with this is to generate some art activism. I tend to be protective about the specifics of my ideas, but what I am working on now is a subtle call to action to hopefully create some hype around the fight for protecting our oceans from further climate damage.
When I’m not doing photography, I am working on paintings that are primarily derived from memories and moments I have underwater. I have an oil painting background and combine my knowledge of oil painting occasionally with acrylics. When I’m painting, it tends to be more of a meditative process than calculated which is great because I’m always generating more ideas that way.
I think what makes me proud is that I have found a way to come back to painting despite the difficulties I experienced before, and more so that I came back to it with a way to incorporate it into my career. I’m also very proud that I worked on healing that part of me, so that I can get to where I am now. When I was little I knew three things: I wanted to work for myself, If I wasn’t living on an island I wanted to at least be living in California, and I wanted to have two cats a dog and sail the world on my boat. The only thing missing so far is the boat, but the point is that you can do anything you set your mind to even if the road getting there is pretty bumpy!
I think something that sets me apart from others is that I have always had a pretty clear sense of self and what I wanted to do with my life despite the adjustments to what that might be, I always stuck to my passions and even if the specifics of that were confusing for a while everything has turned out incredible, it just took a little to get there. I look back on those hard years with a sense of gratitude because in a way it made me who I am. I had the option to stay miserable or I could become uncomfortable and figure it out. Through that I really grew as a person and definitely as an artist. I’ve always been interested in living differently from other people, kind of evaluating what is conventional. It’s funny because with out even trying to make it unconventional, my life kind of veered that way, and I couldn’t love it more.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Sure! I love risk! But I should also say that depends on what the risk is for example: I would totally swim in open shark infested water, but would not willingly choose to go sky diving. Air is just not my element hahaha.
I think I live with the philosophy of “if I don’t try I’ll never know”, and I think that kind of proves true in a lot of areas of my life. Between moving so much and the pressures of my career I’m definitely no stranger to it. I had an opportunity at the end of last year actually which would’ve been a huge risk! I was going to be working in open water in Hawaii as an underwater photographer with shark conservators and divers. My job would’ve been to swim with the sharks and photograph them for conservation efforts. I was so ready to take the job but I would’ve had to move to Hawaii and It just wasn’t feasible at the time. I would’ve 100% taken the job if I could’ve! It couldn’t have been a more perfect job for me!
All of that to say, I feel like Starting Pathos.Co was a big risk but it’s been amazing since it’s paid off in more ways than one. The way I see it is pretty much my entire life post grad has been a big risk. Moving around so much and having a traditionally historically unstable career is pretty risky. I’m. glad to have found a sense of stability through that risk taking though. I’ve always been pretty adventurous so it’s really fun to see where it led me!
Pricing:
- Mini sessions $175
- full sessions $400
- Day long session $1,000
- underwater sessions $500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pathoscollective.com
- Instagram: @pathos_collective
