Photographer? Artist?

I have always called myself a Photographer, even when I studied Graphic Design at college I always considered myself more of a Photographer and naturally studying Photography at University does give you a vibe of being a Photographer. My FMP at University was not strictly photography though, it had more of a digital ethic to it... yes it all started off as photographs of flowers but it all soon evolved into a mixture of texture, layers, cutouts etc.

Since University I seem to have fallen into a bit of a trap. Someone asks what I do and I say I'm a Photographer they always ask 'Like Weddings and stuff?'... well no, no I don't photograph weddings and that has never really interested me the whole studio thing. That is not what my photography was about and having to explain that I was an Art Photographer led people to being even more confused.

Then recently I have started a new project called 'Chimerical' which combines my illustrations with my photography where by using the photos as a type of texture. So in essence it is destructuring photography and using the same elements but ending up with something completely different and looking not much like what someone would anticipate if you said they were looking at a photo.

[Laura Ashford, 'Chimerical']

I think maybe it comes down to being a tad embarrassed to say I'm an Artist that I try and define myself through a medium which is more socially acceptable. Being a Photographer holds an illusion of grandeur whereas being an Artist makes some people hold the opinion that all I do is sit on my ass all day doing nothing.

I feel confident enough now to call myself an Artist as opposed to a Photographer, I use photographs as a medium but I am not confined by the typical structure of a Photographer in general. I enjoy using a multitude of mediums, some of which I have not yet displayed online due to the above reason of not wanting to be judge... but being in the Art world is opening oneself up to be judged. People either like your work or they don't and often more than not they hold no qualms rendering someones work pointless. I am not immune to these judgements, there is some work I love and others I find hard to understand but I think sometimes you have to look beyond what is presented to the idea behind the work... what was the Artist thinking etc.

So today I took the leap of faith and changed myself from being 'just a Photographer' into an Artist. I feel more comfortable every time I say it to myself, as if it is an affirmation to myself.I think shaking off the old skin and taking a step forward into a new direction, leaving all the old baggage behind and drawing a line of no return in the metaphorical path of life is thrilling. My mind is already abuzz with new ways in which to take my work, new mediums with which to embrace, new books/myths/legends to read to gain inspiration.