Warmth, Soft Textures, and Intimate Moments

Photographs by Margaret Leya

Portrait photographer Margaret Leya opens up about refining her work, shooting at a historical pool, and her upcoming project, “I Didn’t Know I’d Miss This.”

Los Angeles, USA

What is your history as a photographer?

I started taking photography seriously once I found out I was pregnant. At the time, I was nineteen and wanted my daughter to grow up knowing I was still able to pursue all my passions. I didn’t want to fall into the stigma of having to put aside my own dreams to be a mother. I wanted to do it all. So that energy fueled me to look at photography as a career path rather than a hobby.

When I was in high school, I took a darkroom class at Barnsdall Park. At the time, I was also heavily into dance and felt like that’s what I was going to do forever. Photography always took a backseat to dance. So for the class, I would have to shoot a roll every other week. And I would just kind of carry around my camera and shoot things on the way to school. There wasn’t a whole lot of meaning behind my stuff then. I didn’t really start calling myself a photographer until a few years ago when I took it more seriously.

How has your work changed and evolved since you first started?

From my earlier pieces to now, I think I’m really just trying to refine all my work. I’m still not where I want to be. So I hope my work has gotten better, and I strive for it to continue to be better. But I think my overall themes have stayed the same.

Who are your subjects? Why do they inspire you?

Most of my subjects are people my age or around my age. I think that this is a really precious time. I feel like I have this special pass into people’s lives right now. I just want to capture this time and these feelings. My 20’s feel tumultuous—like wonderfully confusing. I just want to capture everyone’s lives. I’m inspired by their intimate moments.

What makes your photography unique?

Honestly, I’m a firm believer in that nothing is unique. But I like to think my photography is special because it’s a unique combination of my own personal inspirations. If that makes sense—like all the little things I like that go into my work are what make it special.

Tell the story behind one of your images.

A lot of my photos don’t have deep meanings, like I think the initial feelings you get when seeing them are their meanings. With any of my photos, I just want to feel soft textures, a warmth, and like you’ve gotten an intimate look into something. But! Like as a “story-time” thing, the ones of Samantha at the historical pool are funny. The water was freezing, the hotel seemed haunted, and the lighting was incredibly low. But it’s been a dream of mine to shoot at a location like that, so I made her get in the water anyway. She’s my sister, so it’s fine lol.

How has being a photographer influenced your view of the world?

I don’t think it’s substantially changed my view of the world, but there’s lots of times where I see something and want to incorporate it into my work.

If you could give advice to an up and coming photographer, what would you tell them?

I mean I’m still up and coming, so take me with you? But seriously, don’t do anything you don’t want to. I’ve shot things for “exposure” and they took me nowhere. And then I’ve shot personal projects that have gotten me some really amazing opportunities. So if you’re going to do something for free, make sure you’re excited about it.

What's next for you?

I’m currently working on my quarantine series, “I didn’t know I’d miss this.” Which is a collection of Polaroids that features people at their doors sharing what they didn’t expect to miss during this pandemic. I hope to put it all into a little book in the coming months.