My first insight into the visual team of Sad Mag‘s first issue is Laura Nguyen. Laura spent a morning in Molo’s Design studio in Gastown and photographed the team working away. Her photos can be found accompanying Stacey McLachlan’s interview with the Molo group in issue one of the magazine. Her clean and simple aesthetic makes her one of Vancouver’s up-and-coming food photographers. She is also and amazing cook, and can score you the best Vietnamese food in the city. I urge you to check out her commercial portfolio online: www.lnphoto.ca

Laura photographed some web exclusive photos for sadmag.ca and I sat down with her and chatted about her work, Sad Mag and how her summer went.

Sad Mag: Why do you photograph still life?

Laura Nguyen:I shoot still life because the combination works. I enjoy making ordinary objects beautiful. My mind just sees and understands how to manipulate and shoot still life more than any other subject. Plus, it’s fun!

Sad: What drew you to Sad Mag?

LN: Sad Mag is the perfect showcase for introducing the new crop of amazing artists and writers the city has to offer. There are so many talented people here that need an outlet like Sad Mag to introduce themselves and their work.

Sad: What do you think of food photography today?

LN:That it is taking over the world. It definitely has grown and gained popularity with the success of things like food blogs and flickr. It also has become a separate category of photography itself, not just merged in with commercial photography. Visually it has evolved from mostly simple clean high key images to having more variety with bold, sexy colours or moody, contrast lighting.

Sad: Who are some of your favourite visual artists?

LN: I admit I usually don’t pay as much attention to the artist as the art itself. However I do follow the works of John Kernick, Matt Armendariz, Lara Ferroni, and Tracy Kusiewicz.

Sad: Any show or gallery that you enjoyed going to in the past summer?

LN:I will shamefully admit I didn’t attend any shows this summer. [Brandon: No shame, Laura, no shame.)

Sad: Summer has escaped us. Highlights of the summer summer? If not one thing you regret missing this summer? Or something that you feel was lacking from your summer?

LN: My summer was pretty fantastic. Highlights being my first completed new years resolution ever which was to create my new website (it took 8 months but it still counts!) and learning how to swim. The water and I didn’t start off great together but seriously, now I think it’s the best thing ever.

Follow Laura on Flickr and check out her new work.

-Brandon