Marianthi Lainas

Marianthi Lainas

A professional photographer based in Hoylake on the Wirral peninsula.

marianthilainas.com

Charlotte Parkin

Head of Marketing & Sub Editor for On Landscape. Dabble in digital photography, open water swimmer, cooking buff & yogi.

Living by the sea, you get attuned to the rhythms of the tide and the moon. It's just part of the flow of life. Marianthi has lived very close to the shore for over fifty years. So perhaps it was inevitable that the coastline would become the main source of inspiration for her work.

The transient nature of the littoral landscape is endlessly fascinating, as is such a dynamic environment. These coastal edge lands have been the focus of her new project, 'Sea Signatures'. This project has been an exploration of mixed media processes, which was a natural progression as she was working with cyanotype already.

We last spoke to you in 2014 when we interviewed you as our featured photographer. Tell us more about your work and projects since then.

Re-reading the 2014 interview with Michela, I realise how much my work, my processes and my motivations have changed over the past eight years. At that time, my entire workflow, from image capture through to the production of a final print, was based purely upon digital technologies. After a decade of working in this way, by early 2016, I had started to feel the need to explore a more ‘hands-on’ approach, a desire to embrace more experimentation, to find ways of challenging my somewhat perfectionist nature, and to work in a less tightly-controlled way. Around the same time, I experienced a prolonged period of creative block – partly due to ‘digital overload’ but also the result of catering too much to the demands of commercial and private clients. Essentially, I was creating the same sort of photographs, repeating (often subconsciously) what had become a financially lucrative formula, but one which no longer afforded me much creative joy.

Tidal Pool #10, 2021.
Residual seawater from backwashing wave.
Cyanotype over pastel.
19 x 19 cm

Setting my digital equipment to one side, I’ve been creating prints using camera-less processes for around six years now. I’ve continued to work outdoors in familiar landscapes and favourite spaces but with renewed inspiration. I’ve also been exploring mixed media. Experimentation and play feels all-important these days.