Lily Wang: Uncovering Beauty Through the Lens of Photography
One of the enduring mysteries of life is how various people can look at identical things in this world but see them as so radically different. To some, a dandelion is a weed; to others it is one of the gifts of summer. A diagnosis of grave illness can plunge the sufferer into an enduring depression or elevate every moment to the heights of gratitude. In much the same way, we say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, as a photographer, Lily Wang makes it her business to find beauty in the unexpected and otherwise overlooked.
“Beauty is often defined by society and by other people,” she says, and that prompts us to want to hide an otherwise ignored beauty that’s unique and valuable. “We take (other people’s ideas) and we take them hoping we can become something other than who we are. I love to draw the individual beauty from a person and make them shine, to make them find confidence.”
“I love to draw the individual beauty from a person and make them shine, to make them find confidence.”
– Lily Wang
Deep down, we all know we don’t look like Brad Pitt or Gal Gadot. We often have preconceived ideas of what should be beautiful and it is the rare photographer who can tap into something deeper. “Sometimes I get compliments,” she says, but “one of the highest, one that made me feel really honored, was when I was in India taking a photo of one of the Indian staff girls, and she burst out laughing, saying, ‘I didn’t know I was this pretty.’ That’s the highest compliment I can get, that someone sees who they really are in that moment of understanding, that you are treasured and you are beautiful.”
Lily’s photographic experience and skill allow her what is essentially a window into the soul. “There’s something about photography. Everyone is really unique and photography lets you do something about it.” The art, she believes, doesn’t necessarily come as the result of inspiration, but in problem solving, in taking an ordinary tableau and “making things happen.”
She recalls in particular an instance when photographing a young mother and her children in less than ideal circumstances, in a place and situation where she was challenged to look beyond the obvious. “I thought of this common interaction between a mother and her children that is really beautiful. You realize that every human being has that desire, that wonder, to be beautiful. They want this beautiful moment to keep. These are the people that inspire me, that I can be part of this process.”
She knows, however, that when the magic happens, it’s not all her doing. She can sometimes summon it using backgrounds, or the scene she sets up, but then there are those “God moments.” She remembers one particular job working in China on a magazine publication when the plans they made to shoot outdoors were ruined by rain and they had to move inside from a vivid background into a very plain room. “Then,” she says, “people started cooking downstairs. We were on the second floor, and smoke just started coming into the room. The smoke just added a whole atmosphere. Sometimes, you know that an image carries a certain spirit and really speaks.” That photo ended up on the cover of the magazine and was the moment that helped define her work.
But the artistic component of her work isn’t all that motivates Lily. She also runs a business. “I’m serving other people. I’m helping other people to solve their problems, but not creating something that’s not truthful. The important thing for the business,” she says, “is to reveal what is truly good about the product.” She even finds that, when she is able to put together a particularly effective program, the client seems to feel that she believes in their business even more than they do, that she has found something valuable in it even they didn’t see. For these clients, she becomes an encourager, even a champion for them.
A lot of this comes naturally. “I’m not afraid to give. I give them all my ideas, more than they pay for. There’s always something of value to give.” Lily’s speaks as though her arms are wide open. “I don’t want people to give up on their dreams. Sometimes you just feel stuck. When I’m feeling stuck, that’s when I need to make something happen.”
As it turns out, Northgate has become the perfect platform from which Lily can do that. “To be honest, I’m not the best photographer I know, but I do have something to offer and I work well with people who really trust me. This is a beginning and, for any good result, we need to fight for it. It won’t just happen. It won’t just fall into our laps. Not everyone has this chance.”
For Lily Wang, the art and the business of photography live in comfortable harmony with mission and purpose. Lily’s business card may say that she’s a photographer, but in reality, she wants to help put people in touch with their dreams. Now that is a photo worth taking.
