Lizzie Klein first picked up a camera as a preteen, at a time when Myspace photoshoots were reason enough to spend an afternoon taking webcam pictures in her school’s computer lab or wandering into an abandoned house. Not much has changed since then, at least in spirit. Years later, the LA-based photographer is still drawn to places that feel slightly off from ordinary life, whether that means her grandfather’s kitchen in North Carolina, a Brooklyn horseback-riding academy, or an ostrich farm outside Santa Clarita that may or may not have briefly felt like the beginning of a true-crime documentary. Perhaps that’s why her photographs are tinged with a particular mix of sweetness, strangeness, and hyper-specific nostalgia. Klein traces much of her visual language back to the Internet she grew up on: Tumblr, Instagram, and whatever music, movies, clothes, or images happen to be occupying her brain at the time.
Film or digital?
I like both!
Do you have a favorite camera?
Normally, I shoot with a standard Canon S.L.R. or D.S.L.R., but I have the most fun using iPhone filter apps, webcam photobooths, and toy cameras.
When did you first pick up a camera?
I started taking pictures in the sixth grade with these cool girls I would sometimes hang out with after school. At the time, everyone was doing photoshoots for Myspace, so photography and having a camera was super popular. We’d take pictures on the webcams in the computer lab, get ice cream at Rite Aid, or meet at this tree swing and go into this abandoned house by our school. After that, my friend Sophie and I started learning how to use film cameras, and I just never had as much fun ever before.
Did you already imagine becoming a photographer one day?
I guess I became obsessed with taking pictures as soon as I started, and the excitement has never gone away. As a teenager, I would take my favorite photos visiting my grandpa in North Carolina or my aunt in rural New Jersey. My grandpa lived in this perfect little house under a water tower where the kitchen was painted yellow with a cherry wallpaper border trim. He would feed me chocolate chip cookies and Monster [energy drinks] for breakfast. My aunt lives in this really sweet town that’s super lush and green. There’s a sheep farm and an Italian market that sells heart-shaped ravioli up the street. LA is not really like either place so it all felt really special.
What’s the creepiest place you’ve ever shot in?
A couple years ago, my friend Mariah was sad about a boy so I took her on a rainy drive to the mountains way far out past Santa Clarita to try to get her mind off of it. We ended up following a hand-written sign with a phone number on it pointing us towards an ostrich farm. We waited for a second in the wind and rain and then this couple showed up in an S.U.V. and told us to get in. I looked around and realized we were in a car full of weapons, including a bow and arrow, a hand gun, two knives, and a machete. The closest thing I can think of to describe the smell would be unwashed scalp. They took us on a tour of the property and let us take pictures with the ostrich while describing how they’d met on World of Warcraft. She was an online history professor and 20 or so years older than him. They started to explain to us that several serial killers had passed through the area and stayed in their guest room, and that it was possible to identify them by their distinct bodily odor. Then all of a sudden her knife fell out of her holster and he picked it up and passed it back to her. I got a shaky, low blood sugar feeling and was really afraid that they were going to try to kill us. I pretended a work emergency came up and said we needed to leave immediately. They brought us back to our car without any question and hugged us goodbye, so I guess it was totally chill the whole time.
Who’s your dream model to photograph?
I always want to shoot people whose music I like, so I guess the ultimate version of that would be Jeff Mangum or Christopher Owens. There are sooo many though, plus a ton of girls from Instagram that I’m dying to shoot.
What are your favorite photos you’ve ever taken?
My favorites are from this shoot I did with Lana Lackey, Jennelle Oldham, Aria Lyric Leabu, and Seth Baker; Cannelle with the wolves; and my pictures of my friend Zoe.
What concept have you been wanting to actualize?
I know that every girl says this, but I have wanted to take storm chasing pictures ever since I first watched George Kuchar’s Weather Diaries [1986]. I’ve also been trying to photograph oversized tomatoes and the tallest sunflower in the U.S. for years, but for whatever reason every year it just doesn’t quite work out.
Do you have a favorite website?
Zoë’s Pet Rats but everyone seems to be catching on to that one lately. Traffic Cam Photobooth is so cool too.
What is your relationship to the Internet?
I’m on it all the time. It’s how I get the news, look at pictures, talk to my friends, learn about new music, and find movies to watch. Looking at pictures online is probably the number one way that I developed my style and almost every job I’ve ever gotten has come from me posting my work on Instagram in one way or another. I feel like it’s part of my social responsibility not to fall too out of touch—like a tax I have to pay. That said, I don’t really watch any short-form videos or keep up with mass Internet culture. I think it’s important to find people you like and spend as much time with them as you can in real life.
