Lucy Rand is a 16 year-old photographer from NYC who is currently a junior at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. Lucy began photography for fun, capturing landscapes and portraits of friends with interesting light sources (@lucyrandphotography on Instagram) and now sees herself working in film or photography in the future. She recently started a new Instagram account, @womenwearingpants, to use her photography to shed light on the various roles of women in our society and advocate for gender equality in the workplace.
Her Campus: How did you first become involved in photography?
Lucy Rand: My mom works as an art consultant in the art world, so I grew up surrounded by art and went with her to art galleries and museums in New York which had a big impact. I was always surrounded by inspiration even just in my apartment with one of Cindy Sherman’s photographs in my bedroom. My first camera was a digital Canon that I got for my 12th birthday, and I just started photographing my friends and places around me for fun. When I got to Taft, I enrolled in photography classes, joined RedInk, the literary art magazine, and took photographs for my school newspaper. I then started an Instagram account that began to take off, taking senior photos for senior friends and doing photoshoots for my website. I now continue to expand my website and decided to create an account solely for female portraiture of women in the workforce, @womenwearingpants, comprised of the role models I’ve met throughout my life and interviewed to share their stories.
HC: How were you inspired to start @womenwearingpants?
LR: In my photography class, we had an assignment to create a portfolio with a common theme. After going to the Women’s March in Washington, I was inspired by the women’s movement and decided to use my photography to capture inspiring women working in New York City. Also having a mother in the workplace, it was a great opportunity to capture women who face gender inequality every day and how they persevere and ultimately thrive.
HC: Which was your favorite interview to conduct for @womenwearingpants?
LR: Dr. Jen, a pediatric dentist, was really fun to interview and learn more from. It was interesting to hear about her backstory coming from a family of dentists and whose grandmother was one of only five women in her dental school. Meanwhile, it was inspiring to learn that when she went to school, it was almost half women and half men.
HC: What are you most excited to do next with your photography?
LR: I hope to expand @womenwearingpants and continue shedding light on the important roles that women have in our workforce and promote equal pay through their inspiring stories. I am excited to hear from and talk to more women in the future and continue my interviews and photography.
HC: Where do you see yourself in relation to your photography in 10 years?
LR: While I don’t know exactly what I want to do yet for my career, I would love to travel more and spread awareness of women changing the status quo across the world. I could potentially see myself as even a journalist or photographer for a publication.