With such a huge number of great accounts to follow on Instagram, it can be difficult to know where to begin. We're trying to simplify your life by putting together a group of people that we can't get enough of on social media. From designers to photographers, these creatives understand what works and brighten up our feeds as soon as they scroll through. This week, we caught up with Sydney-born, LA-based photographer George Byrne - who distils the city into seismic moments of colour, shape and surface - to talk creative memories, his relationship with Los Angeles and the power of photography.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is George Byrne.
What do you do?
I am a photographic artist based in Los Angeles.
What are your first creative memories?
I was a chronic daydreamer when I was young, so I think my creative instincts were conjured up in there somewhere.
How does photographing Sydney compare with LA?
It’s very different in the sense that LA, although I’ve lived there for 10 years, is still an alien landscape to me. I don’t have the same fascination with the Sydney landscape because I was born into it, but having said that I would love to work in Sydney again at some point to see what I could cobble together.
Did moving to LA influence your style? How?
Yes definitely. As soon as I arrived in LA I was driven to take pictures and record the landscape, with any camera I could get my hands on. Through lots of repetition and trial and error, I have developed a very distinct style that I really don’t think would have emerged had I not moved here.
Who are your biggest influences?
I’ve always loved Piet Mondrian, Stephen Shore, Vivian Maier, David Hockney, Andreas Gursky. Richard Deibenkorn, Patricia Leib…and so many more to be honest.
Your photography has a distinctive look of being paintings, do you think the two disciplines have anything in common?
I think historically, photography and painting only really had 'composition' in common, but since digital technology has evolved, that has shifted. Photography is now a more malleable medium, which means an artist can use it in more expressive ways, 'creating' images rather than just 'taking' them. My own use of photography has evolved along this line, my current work is largely photo collage, so I’m very much existing in that relatively new creative space.
What do the next 5 years have in store for George Byrne?
I’ve never been a big 5-year-plan-man but I’m hoping I get the opportunity to continue making a bunch of art and music. I also really want to make a film one day, I have so many talented actors around me here in LA I just think it’d be a fun thing to try.
Make sure you follow George, and keep up with his incredible work, on Instagram, @George_Byrne.
Want more in the ‘Who We’re Following’ series? The read what happened when we sat down with one of our favourite content creators Matthew Buckets, aka @MatBuckets.
