Inspiring Women – Lynn Laureys: Cinematic Memory, Motherhood and the Poetry of Everyday Life

We’re excited to begin this conversation with Lynn Laureys, a photographer whose work is deeply shaped by memory, emotion, and the quiet poetry of everyday life. Growing up surrounded by film and photography, and later experiencing motherhood, Lynn developed a cinematic and intimate way of looking at the world, where the personal and the visual are closely intertwined. To start, we’d love to know more about her journey into photography and what first drew her to stay behind the camera.

Hello Sailors!, I quite literally grew up among cameras. My father was a cinematographer, my mother a film and television producer. My grandfather started as a photographer who later became the very first cinematographer of Belgium, a true pioneer. Film and photography were always present, seamlessly woven into daily life, almost like a second language. With a few detours along the way, it eventually became my profession too. And then motherhood entered my life. Becoming a mother intensified something that was already there: the desire to hold on, to remember. Photography has always been part of my life, but becoming a mother gave it a new depth.

Your photos have such a cinematic feel, warm and slightly nostalgic, which makes them truly unique. Where do you draw inspiration from to create such a distinct aesthetic in each of your projects?

It sounds like a cliche, but inspiration really can come from anywhere. From the art and photography books filling our shelves, but just as easily from a walk, a feeling or the way the light softens at the end of the day. Photography to me is first and foremost about looking and about trying to translate the way you see the world. As a mother of young children, your world becomes smaller and, at the same time, infinitely larger. You start noticing things differently, your focus shifts. I once read that motherhood is “the shrinking world, the expansing self” and that captures it perfectly.

Looking through your work, we see fashion projects for well-known brands, and also a very intimate, documentary-like side focused on your family. How do you balance those two worlds? Do you feel your personal work influences your commercial one, or the other way around?

That’s a very accurate question and honestly, something I’m still searching for. To be truthful, there is no real balance. It often feels like standing with one foot in each of two very different worlds.  My personal work makes me more attentive, more sensitive. My commercial work sharpens my eye and my discipline. I’m learning to accept that this in-between space might simply be where my work lives. 

Motherhood is a recurring theme in your work, and it feels very powerful across your platforms. How has becoming a mother changed the way you see and express things through your lens?

Motherhood intensified my urge to document the present. I’m afraid of forgetting and losing the small scenes that unfold in front of me every day. Becoming a mother has deepened me. It made me live closer to my emotions, more honestly, more openly. I feel that my creativity has grown alongside it. At the same time, that creativity doesn’t always get the space it needs. Which is also part of the reality of motherhood, I guess :) I sometimes miss silence, solitude, and the freedom to work uninterrupted on a project.

Even in your fashion work, your photos go beyond showcasing clothes, they seem to tell a story. What does a moment need to have for you to say: this is the one

Fashion photography is a true group effort. You work as a team with a stylist, makeup artist, model, art director, and light technician. When all those elements come together, when the image in front of me aligns with the one I’ve been carrying in my head, there’s a kind of quiet magic.

What do you hope to convey, or what emotions do you want to awaken in people when they see your photos?

I hope my photographs can take people somewhere else, even if just for a moment. That they can invite a sense of dreaming or allow a feeling to take over.

What advice would you give to other photographers trying to find their own voice and tell real stories through their images?

A piece of advice I still need to repeat to myself often: don’t overthink, just do. Create for the sake of creating. For the feeling, not the result. Let go of perfection (this is honestly my greatest struggle). Don’t be afraid to share your work even when you’re not one hundred percent satisfied with it. The constant flood of images we’re exposed to can be discouraging. It can make you wonder what your contribution could possibly be, what makes you unique. But the truth is: you don’t have to search for that unique voice. By photographing a lot, you naturally develop your own visual language.

Looking ahead, what new projects, collaborations or narratives are you dying to bring to life?

I hope to create more space (mentally and literally, as we’re building a new atelier in 2026) to finish a few personal projects that have been quietly living in my archive for some time. I’d also love to pick up my analogue cameras more often. And if I may manifest something for 2026: I would absolutely love to shoot a campaign for a children’s clothing brand.

We’re truly grateful to have had the opportunity to dive into Lynn’s story and the thoughtful reflections behind her work. Her ability to capture emotion, memory, and the quiet beauty of everyday life through her lens is deeply inspiring. We can’t wait to see how her visual language continues to evolve, both in her personal projects and future collaborations.

To our readers, be sure to follow Lynn on Instagram and stay connected for what’s to come. We’re excited to witness the next chapters of her photographic journey.

Photography by Lynn Laureys

Interview by Agostino Lo nardo, part of the Don Fisher crew