Interview with Linda Blacker (issue 11)

The photographer on her creative process, modern women and why YouTubers make the perfect models…

“When I first started photographing YouTubers, I did it because I thought that it would be amazing to take people who are so well-known and turn them into versions of themselves that nobody had really seen,” Linda Blacker says.

“I was used to doing it with models, but people are used to seeing models in different ways. With YouTubers people haven’t seen them like that – and that was what I found really fun.”

Linda, 25, has quickly made a name for herself as ‘the YouTuber photographer’. The fine art graduate has worked with the likes of Zoella, Louise Pentland, Lucy and Lydia, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Hannah Witton and Niki and Sammy Albon.

She is best-known for her YouTuber Fairytales series – a collection of fantasy-themed photographs, which are all intricately planned and executed and include takes on Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland. Each photo shoot is accompanied by a storyline, giving depth and purpose to the images Linda captures and shares with her 60,000+ fans on Instagram.

“I write a little story with each shoot because I take four or five photos and if there wasn’t a story attached to it people wouldn’t be as engaged with it,” she explains.

“I don’t always finish the story, sometimes it’s left as a potential continuation so that I can maybe carry on with it.” Although Linda is most renowned for her fairytale shoots, she has also worked with YouTubers on other projects. Indeed, recently she shared ‘The Modern Woman – YouTuber Vintage’ series (see next page) on her Instagram account. The photographs, which star a hand-picked selection of female YouTubers, offer a social commentary on the contrast between 1950s and contemporary women.

“I came across lots of pinup shots from around the 40s and 50s and it got me thinking about the differences between then and now,” Linda says. “We’ve [women] got so many more opportunities nowadays to show that we’re more than just sex symbols.

“I wanted to highlight the contrast between the two eras and dress powerful women who are doing their own thing in the 40s and 50s style. It was designed to show how different time is now – yes, they can look beautiful and amazing but they can also be independent and have their own jobs.” Linda posts her series straight onto Instagram, which means she gets instant feedback on each of her photographs.

“The comments I get do influence the work I do,” she says. “When a picture doesn’t get a good reception, you can’t help but think that maybe it wasn’t as good or as strong as it should have been.

“I would never let people truly dictate what I do because you have to follow your own instinct, but it is nice to see what people like and know that you’re doing ok.”

Since her first YouTuber photoshoot – an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party starring Louise Pentland and Niki and Sammy Albon [NikinSammy] – Linda’s projects have become more and more ambitious and she plans to increase the size of, and detail within, each future photo shoot.

“I just want to get bigger each time,” she says. “Not in terms of YouTuber size but in terms of making a more impressive piece.”

“I would like to do massive story shoots with groups of YouTubers. I just want to keep making new and exciting things. I have got a lot of plans.” We can’t wait to see them…