Mia Thompson (@mialotte) is a masterly teenager from Cheshire, England whose Gallery of beautiful portraits caught our eye. Originally from a small village, Mia moved to the countryside when she was ten.
Photography entered her life a few years later. After being assigned a landscapes photography project by her art teacher, she borrowed her father’s camera and got to work. A year later, she asked for her own camera for her 15th birthday. She shares, “I loved the idea of capturing moments and gaining a different perspective. I started taking photos of people to explore portraiture.”
She soon began organizing photo shoots with friends. “I wanted to further improve, so I interned with a photographer. She taught me how to shoot manually and it really opened my eyes. I practiced and saved money so I could buy more camera lenses and equipment, which helped as well.”
Mia has a special interest in fashion and portraiture. “I love coming up with different concepts; I think fashion photography and portraiture is so diverse,” she says.
I asked her what advice she would give to her peers just starting out and she shared, “Lighting is the most important thing to be aware of. I generally shoot my photos when it is cloudy because the light isn’t as harsh on the subject then. However if I want shadows to be present in the photo I shoot on a sunnier day.”
In one year, she has managed to gain nearly 600,000 followers here on PicsArt. “Having over half a million followers is really exciting. It’s shocking sometimes to see how the number of my followers goes up; sometimes I gain 2,000 followers in a day! I think it’s nice though that photography lets me create my own world and that PicsArt lets me share it.”
Mia appreciates the virtual community that allows her to share her images with those outside of her Cheshire community. “I’ve never really been confident about sharing my work with others and I still don’t really like people I know seeing it, but I like how PicsArt has built my confidence and allowed me to share more of my photos.”
Today, Mia is busy studying for her A level exams focused on art, media, and sociology. She also takes time to continue to develop her photography. “There are so many things to be inspired by that could be turned into a photo shoot. I like to do my photo shoots around where I live. I think it’s great to go exploring and find new places. It also makes my photos feel really special because it’s like I’m sharing my own secret world with my followers.”
We love seeing Mia’s world and the stunnings shots from her photo shoots with friends. We look forward to following Mia and continuing to see her journey to help us beautify the world.
This story was prepared by PicsArt’s Community Editor, Madlene (@madlene_pa). If you have a PicsArt story to share, we would love to read it. Please send an email to [email protected].
