I'm a graphic designer and photographer. I've worn many hats in my jobs along the way, from editorial layouts to designing pitch decks, environmental graphics, and campaign materials, with plenty of photography woven through all of it.

Every job I ever wanted to be as a kid ended in -ologist (I had two long obsessions with dinosaurs and weather), but there has always been a creative spark that ran deeply through me. Ask my grandmother, who graciously donated all of her spare paper and bakery boxes to endless drawings and dioramas (And maybe a “found” rock collection — in true grandma fashion — that she held on to until I was an adult and asked me if I wanted to have it.).

I balance my career as a graphic designer with personal photography projects, which primarily center around every day surroundings. Before moving to Maryland in 2025, I spent much of my time figuring out just what it meant to live in Florida—to be in that beautiful, strange place where reality and illusion exist side by side. Eventually, this garnered attention from galleries, museums, publications, and provided for teaching opportunities. Somewhere there are better words, but this continues to be a genuinely cool experience in my life. One that the little girl eyeing the sugar Grimace on her cake wouldn’t have imagined possible (to be fair, I really just wanted to eat Grimace—and I did).

No matter the medium, I'm usually chasing the story behind whatever I've been handed or gotten curious about. The why tends to matter to me as much as the what — sometimes more.

I received my BA in Graphic Design and Art History from San Diego State University, and currently live in Baltimore with my partner and our two cats, Butter and Sugar.

Contact me:
Say hi or send me an old family recipe at:
laurenmitchellphoto@gmail.com

Recognitions:
Permanent Collection
Southeast Museum of Photography

Exhibits & Awards
Orlando Museum of Art, Florida Prize Exhibition, 2021
Snap! Orlando, Eyewitness, 2021
Southeast Museum of Photography, Fresh Perspectives, 2021
Snap! Orlando, Surroundings, 2018
NESOP, This American Landscape, 2018
Praxis, Making Strange, 2018
Morean Arts Center, Fresh Squeezed, 2018
Snap! Orlando, Snap!Summer Selection 2017
Morean Arts Center, The Journey, 2017
Santa Fe Workshops, Home, 2016
Texas Photographic Society, Cell Phone Photography IV: Moving Past the Camera, 2016

PDN Exposure Awards
Scholarship Recipient, Alex & Rebecca Norris Webb Workshop, MSPF

Other claims-to-fame:

• Roadside boiled peanut fiend
• Grocery store music aficionado
• Baking enthusiast
• Thrift store frequenter
• Operator of a Little Free Cookbook Library! It’s been a joy to share our passion for food with the community.