Though she trained and spent many years working as a chef, Lauren Bath has risen to the top of the social media world as an entirely self-taught photographer. Using a professional camera, Bath would practice techniques such as water droplet or macro photography—and it quickly became an addiction. Now, with over 461,000 followers, Australia’s first professional Instagrammer is living the dream, spending most of her time on the road capturing arresting images for her clients. But her business is more than just pretty pictures: Bath is meticulous about responding to people’s comments and queries. “Influencers have to reply and engage with the community,” she says. “Trust plus reach equals influence.” Here are some of Bath’s incredible images.
Bath has explored all corners of her home country, Australia. In 2015, while sitting in the back of a helicopter, she captured a picture of wild horses running across a field in Broome. “I can definitely and categorically state that this is my favorite photo of the year,” says Bath. “My camera settings, focal length, our positioning, the horses, the filed…everything was perfect for this one moment in time.”
On a visit to Iceland, Bath captured this stark image of Jökulsárlón, a large glacial lake in southeast Iceland.
“This is perhaps the cutest animal I’ve ever photographed, an Arctic fox in Canada’s Yukon Wildlife Preserve. For this photo I was insider the fence and this is something that I had to get a special permit for.”
Bath and her friend, Melissa Findley, visited the sugar cane town of Giru, near Townsville, Australia. “This photo is a reminder that it doesn’t matter where you are, it’s possible to make beautiful memories and images. This is in my home state, a vast and beautiful part of the world that I would love to work more in.”
“I have a huge interest in wildlife and nature,” says Bath, who took this close up of a fox in Sapporo, Japan. “I had the settings exactly where I wanted them and got a clean focus,” says Bath. “This might not win any photography awards but I feel like I’m looking into that foxes soul when I see this. Plus, I just love animals.”
“Good morning!” says Bath, from Mt. Buller, a ski destination in Australia. “Just though you would all like to see what I had for lunch yesterday at the Birdcage. There’s like 30 restaurants up here, it’s an entire village. I love ski in/ski out.”
The Kimberley Coast in Western Australia is famous for its untouched wilderness, dramatic waterfalls, and soaring cliffs. One of the best (and easiest) ways to see it is via a cruise ship, as Bath did with the Kimberley Quest. “This is my favorite shot of the bonfire night of the Kimberley Quest. We lit the fire right on sunset and it caught quickly. I don’t even know how to start to describe how amazing the last ten days have been.”
“This was my Broome camel train shot that I had in my mind the whole time I was in Western Australia and managed to make a reality. On that day, I was running up and down the wet sand with my best friend @garry_norris and the entire trip was just fun and beautiful.”
