When I think of XANTHE BERKELEY I think of the word celebration! Her photos and mini-films always seem to be making the simplest moment, activity or object extra special simply by the way she focuses her lens on it. For me, she is truly an artist of daily life– which, as you know, is what I cherish most deeply.
Also, could there possibly anyone more dedicated to the colors YELLOW, PINK, RED! (and turquoise, green, blue, orange, violet, peach . .. because she is a true devotee of color, of course) but above all– if you scroll through her Instagram feed you might agree with me it is a celebration of yellow! pink! red! which translates (in my world) as joy, play and love.
One of the many things I treasure about the images that Xanthe shares with us all is how she elevates the bits and pieces of her daily life into art. The vibration from her work, for me anyway, is all about happiness, fun and gentle adventure. And, having met Xanthe, I can say that is also the kind of person she is in the world: super chill, deeply kind, exceedingly creative and always up for a photo walk.
Today Xanthe and I are chatting about life in London, how her life developed to this point where she makes her living as a creative photographer entirely on her own terms which includes running online classes, teaching in-person workshops and doing projects with companies including Boden, Canon USA, Anthropologie, West Elm among many others.
It’s rather a dream life, to be sure.
And, for anyone who thinks London is just too gray, drab and dull— you will hear how Xanthe can find color anywhere as she says, “when you start looking for it, you start to see it everywhere!”
It was such a pleasure to catch up with this sweet woman as she is a true inspiration to me. I do hope you enjoy listening, too.
bisous, Elizabeth
all photos courtesy of XANTHE BERKELEY