Megan Ogden | UK
Megan Ogden is a freelance photographer based in the UK specialising in people, places, and still life.
Her professional work spans a range of subjects, while her personal practice explores the beauty of the everyday. Through her images, she seeks to slow down time, highlighting the often-overlooked moments and details of daily life, an intentional contrast to the fast-paced world we navigate.
Her work reminds us that beauty surrounds us, we just need to slow down to see it.
What inspired you to pick up a camera for the first time, and who or what shaped your learning journey?
Art has always appealed to me. I did enjoy other more academic subjects like history, but I was definitely a kinaesthetic learner and enjoyed things being much more hands on. Despite my efforts in the arts, I never felt good enough at anything I did. Nothing seemed quite right and I watched others excel around me at painting and drawing in ways I just couldn’t achieve.
This may make it sound like photography was a fallback, but truly I felt a connection when I took pictures. My Uncle had an interest in cameras and I was lucky to have been given one of his film cameras in college.
I also began assisting a local photographer when I was at school, shooting weddings and other commercial projects. He was a fantastic tutor, I really learnt a lot. I’ve also been lucky to have some fantastic tutors in my education too that have helped propel my interest forwards. I had decided by this point that photography was going to be my path.
I started my photography business 5 years ago and it’s been quite the adventure and I’m so grateful for all the projects I’ve worked on so far.
What subjects or themes do you most enjoy photographing and why?
My imagery revolves around storytelling and my subjects are usually quite the mundane. With these everyday scenes I try to show the magic of the every day.
We are all living at 100 miles an hour, and I want people to slow down, and appreciate the world around them, by observing through my imagery what they might have overlooked. That is my hope anyway.
Can you tell us about a memorable project or photo series you’ve worked on?
Since leaving university, life returned back into its old rhythms and I seemed to be working two jobs, working overtime while trying to grow my photography business. I was struggling not being in a creative environment and battling the feeling of settling down or giving up creativity altogether in exchange for a full-time, Monday to Friday job.
Then lockdown came and it forced us into our homes. It gave me the opportunity to commit time to a project I had been working on. And so Sanctuaries was born, a photo book and series challenging the way we see spaces and their purpose.
I was humbled by the support I had from the photography community, friends and family. I’m so proud to have made this and to have had opportunities following to exhibit images from the series nationally.
What types of things do you do to stay creative?
Follow positive social media accounts and fellow creatives to keep some kind of control over what I see on socials. I attend events and showings as often as I can in the arts. This can be concerts, art exhibitions, anything that shows other people’s creativity.
I collect photo books too, when I can, which leave me in awe. Photo books have the ability to transport you out of this world and completely into the world the photographer sees. How magical is that? The power of print! I am a strong believer of it.
What advice would you give beginner photographers, especially those who are having trouble with confidence or imposter syndrome?
Don’t give up. There are certainly many peaks and troughs to the photography world. Expect rejections, but don’t take them to heart. Your next win might be right around the corner. It takes dedication.
Dedication does take a lot of energy and love, I appreciate that, but your passion is important, so is your talent. You shouldn’t give up the things you love, even when it’s hard as those around you might be doing different careers and following different life paths. It’s ok to be different.
How important is community and networking in your photography career?
Community and networking have been where 70% of my paid work has come from. As an introvert, this was definitely a hard thing to overcome. It felt hard enough to put your work out into the world, let alone reaching out to people to promote yourself.
What message do you hope to convey through your photography to other women?
That your gender should not hold you back in a career you love. I believe change will come for the balance of females in the industry, and I have real hope in that.
