EP 04: Conversation Behind The Scenes with Mara Magyarosi Laytner

What if your photography did not end with the click of the shutter?

In this episode of Lensbaby Presents, host Liz Willson welcomes fine-art photographer, educator, curator, and Lensbaby Ambassador Mara Magyarosi-Laytner for a thoughtful conversation about experimental photography, physical printmaking, visual poetry, creative courage, and building a meaningful artistic practice.

Mara shares her journey from high-school darkroom photography to earning degrees in photography, art education, arts administration, and an MFA in photography. She discusses how teaching and making art work together, why experimentation matters, and how her project-based approach allows her work to evolve over time.

A central theme of this conversation is simple but powerful: make your art real. Photography is not only a digital file or an image on a screen. Mara encourages artists to print their work, experiment with materials, create photo books, pursue exhibitions, apply to open calls, and place their art where it can connect with people.

You will also hear about Mara’s evolving body of work, The Subtle Body of Living Things, which explores memory, time, identity, health, anxiety, absence, and altered perception. Through video, photographic fragments, Polaroid lifts, hand-coated prints, projections, Lensbaby OMNI effects, Edge optics, and experimental processes, she creates work that reflects the disorientation and fragmented experience of lost time.

Whether you are a photographer, artist, creative entrepreneur, photography student, or someone who has been waiting for permission to share your work, this conversation will challenge you to try the hard thing, embrace the learning process, and keep moving forward even when self-doubt shows up.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

● Why your photography should not end with the shutter click

● How to turn digital images into tangible, physical artwork

● Ways to start exhibiting photography in galleries, libraries, hospitals, coffee shops, and local art spaces

● Why applying for creative opportunities matters, even when you expect rejection

● How artists can use experimentation, symbolism, and visual poetry to develop deeper work

● Why ongoing photography projects can evolve over months or years

● How to create a photography book or artist monograph

● How Mara uses the Lensbaby OMNI system, colored crystals, Edge optics, and Velvet lenses

● Why in-camera experimentation can reduce dependence on heavy editing

● How photography, video, alternative processes, and mixed media can work together

● How to work through imposter syndrome, rejection, and creative failure

● What it means to “shoot extraordinary”

Mara also shares the story behind Nova 24 Photo and Film Festival, an experimental photography and film festival she co-founded to create more opportunities for innovative artists and filmmakers. The festival features exhibitions, artist talks, projection galleries, film screenings, and work from artists across the United States and internationally.EP-04-Conversation-Behind-The-Scenes-with-Mara-Magyarosi-Laytner.txt

Creative reminder: Do not be the first person to tell yourself no. Apply for the exhibition. Submit to the open call. Print the work. Share the project. You never know who needs to encounter your art.

Connect with Mara Magyarosi-Laytner

Instagram: @maramagyarosi

Website: MaraMagyarosiLaytner.com

Mara shares her artwork, creative process, exhibitions, and artist opportunities through her website and Instagram.EP-04-Conversation-Behind-The-Scenes-with-Mara-Magyarosi-Laytner.txt

Explore Lensbaby creative lenses, OMNI filters, and photography tools, and use code PODCAST for 10% off as referenced in this episode.EP-04-Conversation-Behind-The-Scenes-with-Mara-Magyarosi-Laytner.txt

Question for you: What piece of art have you been holding back from printing, submitting, sharing, or putting out into the world?

Subscribe to Lensbaby Presents for more conversations with photographers, artists, Lensbaby Ambassadors, visual storytellers, and creatives who are learning to shoot extraordinary.

Chapters

00:00 Why Photography Should Become Physical Art

00:26 Make Your Art Tangible, Printed, and Real

01:20 Where to Share Your Photography Beyond Galleries

02:13 How Art Can Bring Hope and Healing to Others

03:11 Why You Need to Share Your Work

04:16 Welcome to Lensbaby Presents

04:45 How Mara Magyarosi-Laytner Started Photography

05:27 Discovering Photography in High School

05:56 Learning Through the Darkroom

06:24 From Photography Degrees to Fine Art

07:16 Teaching, Arts Administration, and an MFA

08:17 Building a Career as a Fine-Art Photographer

09:06 Why Artists Must Keep Making Their Own Work

09:57 Creating More Opportunities for Experimental Photography

10:32 The Story Behind Nova 24 Photo and Film Festival

11:26 Supporting Experimental Photo and Film Artists

13:30 Project-Based Photography, Symbolism, and Visual Poetry

14:06 Why Experimentation Creates Unexpected Results

15:07 Photography Does Not End With the Image

15:36 Alternative Printing and Experimental Photo Processes

16:09 Combining Photography, Video, and Mixed Media

17:14 How Mara Begins a Photography Project

18:28 Exploring Creative Methods Before Knowing the Outcome

19:30 Building Inspiration Boards for Art Projects

20:38 The Beginning of The Subtle Body of Living Things

20:51 Anxiety, Vasovagal Syncope, and Altered Perception

22:48 Searching for Peace Through Photography

23:44 Using Video, Crystals, and the OMNI System

24:33 When Video Began Reflecting a Personal Experience

25:32 Photography as a Medium for Exploring Time

26:01 Creating Images From Missing Pieces of Time

26:37 Polaroid Lifts, Film Fragments, and Experimental Books

27:27 The Aftermath: Art as a Conversation With Yourself

28:07 Music, Rhythm, and the Disruption of Time

28:40 Why an Art Project Can Remain in Progress

30:13 Knowing When a Photography Project Is Complete

30:40 The Untended Garden Photography Project

31:37 Turning a Long-Term Project Into a Photography Book

33:28 Experience Creative Freedom With Lensbaby

34:26 Why Mara Makes Physical Prints

35:20 Hand-Coated Paper and Visible Brushstrokes

36:13 What Comes After Creating the Digital File?

37:03 Art, Time, and the Value of Long-Term Creativity

38:50 Imposter Syndrome, Failure, and Trying Big Things

39:20 Why You Should Not Be the One to Tell Yourself No

39:48 When a Printing Experiment Does Not Work

41:04 The Reality of Rejection in the Art World

41:47 Applying for a Guggenheim Fellowship

42:56 Why Rejection Does Not Mean You Do Not Belong

44:00 Keep Trying, Learning, and Moving Forward

45:24 Living for the Hope of It All

45:44 How Creative Risk Builds Confidence

47:24 What Mara Is Creating Now

48:17 The Intersection of Photography and Film

48:46 Creating Effects In Camera Instead of Editing

49:06 How Mara Uses Lensbaby Tools

49:48 Why the OMNI System Changed Her Work

50:41 Using Colored OMNI Crystals for Artistic Expression

50:59 Creating Self-Portraits With the Velvet 56

51:17 Why Mara Loves the Edge Lens and Tilt-Shift Effects

52:23 Lensbaby as the Beginning of the Creative Process

53:32 Speed Round: Photography Inspiration and Creative Rules

53:56 The Photography Gear Mara Loves Most

54:02 The Most Overrated Photography Rule

54:24 What Makes a Photograph Instantly Interesting

54:42 A Subject Mara Always Photographs

55:00 Photography Is Better When You Are With Friends

55:06 What It Means to Shoot Extraordinary

56:43 Curiosity, Growth, and Pushing Photography Forward

58:04 Where to Find Mara Magyarosi-Laytner

59:19 Artist Open Calls and Creative Opportunities

01:00:07 Final Challenge: Make Your Art Real

What does extraordinary creative freedom mean to you as a photographer? Our mission is to give photographers the tools to move through their fear of shame, judgement, guilt, and being a part of the status quo. Photography isn't about fitting in. Photography is about discovery, risk, getting out of the box, saying no to what everyone else is doing and being EXTRAORDINARY as defined by you.

We believe that creativity isn't about what THEY do. Photography is about what YOU want to do!

What does being a photographer mean to you?

How do you #ShootExtraordinary

Learn more about Lensbaby Https://www.Lensbaby.com

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Elizabeth (Liz) Willson

Website: elizabethwillsonphotography.com

Instagram: @Elizabethwillsonphotography

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@elizabethwillsonphotography

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