THOMAS BETTS

"Working with Laura opened my eyes to new ways of working and helped me to deepen my engagement with my own photographic practice."

"She unlocked an inner sensitivity and empathy in my work and taught me to look beneath the surface of a photograph, to a place where feeling plays a bigger part than looking."

EMLI BENDIXEN

"I was wanting to take some time for my creative practice, to gently push boundaries, and step into writing.

The Letting Go Workshop provided the space I needed; though I still struggled to make the time to prepare, it was a wonderfully peaceful pause in the week.

Laura and the group were incredibly generous, and we have kept in touch since.

Laura's calm ability to guide and hold space is a real gift."

JOANNE COATES

"I was feeling isolated in the arts and wanted to take new direction in my practice.

Learning with the group was incredible. I was in a supportive cohort, which I believe came from who was leading the workshop. It shifted the direction of my practice."

RAEANN CHUNG

"Working with Laura is very easy and comfortable. Knowledge and experience aside, Laura is super considerate, generous, intuitive, sensitive, and encouraging to her students. Instead of suggesting that I look externally for inspiration, I really appreciate Laura’s guidance in exploring from within."

REHAB ELDALIL

"I remember starting our mentoring sessions with tons of questions about my project, my practice and essentially my capabilities.

Laura has been amazing throughout this process, both reassuring and helpful as we seek answers for all my questions. Her guidance has given me the confidence to experiment with different methodologies and approaches in my work and expand to experiment with different mediums as well."

SINEAD LE BLOND

"I wanted continuity of structure (but not necessarily academic rigour!) after completing my MA, and I know that Laura is a supportive and nurturing mentor, so I wanted to continue that connection and guidance.

My experience of Laura as a workshop leader and as my MA supervisor is that she is supportive and nurturing and crucially, instills in her students/attendees the courage to experiment with ideas that may be out of their comfort zone."

I attribute my ability to generate ideas and create work in response to them in large part to Laura's approach to the process."

DANNY BURROWS

"The experience of being a freelance photographer is a lonely one and very often hard both financially and emotionally. The creative process needs stimulation and The Letting Go Workshops provided that by the truck load. Suddenly I had a purpose and impetus to create; a group of photographers to share this work with; and their work and friendship to inspire, provoke, and encourage further experimentation in one's work.

It helped incredibly. It and Laura gave purpose, impetus, and creative input to my practice. I created work that was intimate and unlike anything else I had made - I would not have gone so far without the cushion and kicks of the group and Laura.

If you feel stuck in your practice and want to push your work in new and exciting directions, then sign up now!"

JENNY LEWIS

 “Working with Laura on the Letting Go workshops helped push me into the discomfort of placing myself in the centre of the work.

I knew I wanted to disrupt my practice when I signed up but I had no plan to step in front of the lens and was surprised how stubbornly resistant I was.

Having to show up every week pushing the ideas forward made it clear she was right.

From these early sessions and experimentation my new series UnBecoming evolved.

Anyone wanting to be challenged and supported in their practice could benefit from the playful investigation the workshops encourage with Laura's generous guidance."

VIKTORIA BINGES

"I am a person who needs structure, inspiration, and being held accountable. The idea of the weekly group sessions seemed to be a great structure for me to work on my project. I appreciate Laura's work, so knew it will be great.

I managed to come up with a concept and follow it through with Laura's help and the group's encouragement. I really enjoyed bouncing around ideas inspired by everyone's work."

TRACY TATTERSALL

"I participated in the workshop primarily to give some momentum to my practice which was feeling dormant.

Initially it helped to have some level of accountability to make work within particular time constraints. Then the weekly feedback and guidance from Laura was insightful and helped to shape how work may move forward. Also, Laura's support and encouragement was invaluable. I think a special space was created for people to be able to share."

SARA HIBBERT

"I applied at a time when I was working on a new series - I felt the work would benefit from being in dialogue with other artists, and that feedback from others would be helpful in both critique and confidence building. I sought a group context and was keen to be part of a collective environment, supporting each others' progress. I was also inspired by Laura's work, and felt aligned with some of the themes, so it stood out as a workshop that would be particularly relevant to my practice.

The regular sessions were really valuable, and I found the 'deadline' of creating something each week was a great motivational element. I found discussing other participants work useful in helping further contextualise my own practice, and it was inspiring to see other artists' work develop.

The group's work was diverse in terms of themes and discussion points which gave a varied dynamic to the workshop sessions.

It was also really great to see Laura's work and to hear a more in-depth presentation of past work.

The workshops has remained a really valuable experience and gave my work some useful direction during a time where I was uncertain about it, and I've also followed other participant's work since."

HILDE MAASSEN

"Laura has good empathy and can respond to my personal needs and questions.

While our work and working methods are very different, our conversation sometimes felt like a ping-pong game of ideas that I could then get to work with. While at other times pausing made us look at where I was now, what I had done and how to proceed; a very inspiring and personal approach that helped me reflect on my own work."

MIRJAM STENEVIK

"I needed focus, inspiration, input.

I really appreciated the honest conversations and the various inputs, allowing me to develop my project further."

SAM LINDSAY

"I applied to develop emerging ideas I’ve been working on and to receive feedback, suggestions and have my work discussed or described in ways I hadn’t considered…

I found the encouraged freedom of creative approaches liberating. I felt safe and supported in taking experimental risks and therefore enjoyed the process and how it was viewed. I found that Laura thoughtfully chose candidates who applied to her workshop so that we somehow had something in common even if our topic or preferred approaches were different. This really helped the group dynamics.

Laura is very sensitive, professional and creatively/technically talented. I find this too very inspiring and a joy to be a part of."