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Laura Mate

@_lauramate

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Image maker, picture taker
Open for commissions & collaborations

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12/03/1951 - 05/07/2026 💔 RIP Dear Dad, You taught me how to see the world.You gave me wide eyes, an adventurous spirit, compassion & above all, a genuine love of humanity. At 17 years old, in 1968, you left your parents’ home with nothing more than your guitar, best pal, & backpack. You hitched across Europe, found yourself caught up in the Paris student riots, reversed charges to Granma for your exam results in Morocco, then travelled on to Afghanistan. Those adventures became the stories of my childhood. You spoke endlessly about the kindness you encountered, the traditions you witnessed, & generosity of strangers. You noticed the less people had, the more willing they were to share. Through your stories, you taught me to approach the world with curiosity instead of fear, & kindness instead of judgement.Fifteen years ago, cancer tried to write you off. The doctors called you a walking miracle. After life-changing operations that would have stopped most in their tracks, you simply carried on. You devoted countless hours to raising money for local charities and improving opportunities for people in your community & your sense of adventure never faded.Last October, you & your grandson, my Mylan, set off on an American West coast road trip, memories that he’ll keep precious. Then, in January, we dropped you at the train station with your rucksack as you headed off to spend three weeks travelling around South India. Mylan kept asking where your suitcase was. You’d only just returned from another road trip, driving up the coast of Morocco, still chasing new experiences, still meeting new people, still seeing the world with the same wanderlust you’d had at 17.Dad, we can’t quite fathom a world without you in it.But perhaps that’s because you never really belonged to just one place. Mum just keeps saying, you’ve gone travelling ❤️ by @_lauramate

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A few of the Photographs made for North Yorkshire refugee project, to be exhibited in September along side their stories of exile & resettlement in the UK. #worldrefugeeday #refugee #northyorkshire by @_lauramate

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a month ago

Au revoir David 💔 I took this photograph of him a couple of years ago and put him in his forest. What a legacy he leaves, rest in peace now #davidhockney #trailblazer by @_lauramate

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Arp: The Plasters22 May-4 Oct 2026Jean Arp at Leeds Art gallery, (1886-1966) was a German-French artist renowned for his contributions to modern art through sculpture, painting, poetry and collage. by @_lauramate

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Harry Gruyaert is known for his extraordinary photographic work with color. Born in Antwerp in 1941, he originally dreamed of becoming a film director. In the late 1970s, Pop art and a trip to Morocco inspired him to become one of the first photographers in Europe to devote his work entirely to color photography. Gruyaert’s cinematographic background instilled in him an aesthetic conception of photography. Rather than telling stories or documenting the world through his lens, he searches for beauty in everyday elements. His images are simply snapshots of magical moments in which different visual aspects, primarily color, form, light and movement, spontaneously come together in front of his lens.A member of Magnum Photos since 1982, Gruyaert has photographed extensively in the United States, Morocco, Europe, and India. by @_lauramate

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2 months ago

March & April’s by @_lauramate

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Hyper Hyper opened in 1983 on High Street Kensington, and closed in the late 90s. As a teen in the 90s it was the best place to find something original & that cute cafe inside an old train carriage. Hyper Hyper was conceived as an independent designer emporium, a three-story maze of stalls hosted designers including Pam Hogg, Laurie Vanian’s Symphony of Shadows, Dexter Wong, Ghost, Jane Kahn’s Khaniverous, Sarah Whitworth’s Deadlier than the Male, as well as Leigh Bowery and Rachel Auburn who named their stall ‘Spend Spend Spend’. by @_lauramate

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Cold War, In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France. It was inspired by the lives of Pawlikowski’s own parents and follows a tumultuous love story spanning 15 years across post-WWII Europe. I shot these film stills from my living room tv. #pawełpawlikowski #filmstillsphotographer by @_lauramate

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I discovered Ben Shahn(American, bornLithuania 1898–1969)in a charity shop in Keighley. He once said, “I paint two things: what I love and what I abhor.” The artist had a deep affection for American workers, immigrants, and disenfranchised communities, and often expressed an abhorrence for injustice and oppression. Shahn was himself an immigrant: his family was forced to flee Lithuania after his father was exiled to Siberia for alleged revolutionary activities in 1902, and the family resettled in Brooklyn, New York. Even when Shahn was a young artist working in the 1930s, his art already exemplified a Social Realiststyle, depicting scenes of American life that commented on political corruption and the societal woes of the day. by @_lauramate

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Jane Bown CBE 1925 – 2014, the English photographer who worked for The Observer newspaper from 1949. Her portraits, primarily photographed in black and white and using available light.Lord Snowdon described her as “a kind of English Cartier-Bresson” who produced “photography at its best. She doesn’t rely on tricks or gimmicks, just simple, honest recording, but with a shrewd and intellectual eye. by @_lauramate

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4 months ago

Test shoot for fashion @amazingfinds_uk Thankyou Rob 👌 by @_lauramate

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Photos made at Holbeck WMC for @stirtoaction , a non for profit organisation running a programme of events as part of their wider work to revitalise and strengthen Britain’s social clubs. https://www.democraticbusiness.org/21st-century-social-clubs by @_lauramate

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