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Photograph: Claire Alice Young
Claire Alice Young, Melbourne based photographer and artist, is the 21-year-old face behind camera and craft. She’s a photographer by day and jewellery-trinket maker by night. All toward one common purpose: the Adventure Fund.
She’s shot for Sweet Heart High, Her Pony and Casper&Pearl, as well as a host of other wildly wonderful fashion, art and travel gigs. Lakeside, forest and mountain-top scenes fill Young’s repertoire. The recurring theme of nature and natural living inhabits her artwork in a sensitive, expressive fashion, and you are gifted the experience to see the world in a unique way through her visual understanding of it.
Living in a ramshackle cottage by the seaside with rabbit, lover and sewing machine sounds like country-charmed Beatrix-esque bliss as is, but Young is resolved. The pair plan to sell all their possessions and establish a life living on the road, which is where the figurative penny jar that is the Adventure Fund comes in; a virtual piggy bank currently totalling $767.61. This is all the gold set aside from the creations Young toils over into the night and later sells online, to fulfill a life’s simple ambition.
“Ever since I was sixteen years old and my feet first touched unfamiliar soil, I knew that I wanted to see every inch of this world. I came home from my European adventure with my soul set on fire. I knew what I wanted to do in life. It wasn’t to be a doctor or a lawyer; it wasn’t a profession as such. I just want to have worldly experiences and make friends from every inch of this earth. I want to dance in the rain on mountains, I want to sleep beneath the stars, I want to live in more countries than I can count on two hands and I want to document it all with my camera.”
Photograph: Claire Alice Young
Hence the Adventure Fund was born, an online store filled with handmade crafts and creations, all made from recycled and natural materials that Young has used for past photo shoots and projects. Raw, gold dipped sea glass pendants, antique spoon chains, vintage re-workings and prints are scattered throughout the store. And the coin goes toward relinquishing the burdens of stable life, and choosing to explore farther afield in a nomadic, inspiration-driven style.
“One day I dream of having my own physical shop, maybe it will be in the country, where we’ll live in a cottage out the back. I’ll sell handmade trinkets, vintage clothing, local artists work, second hand books and support emerging authors and photographers by displaying their work. Martin can teach me how to make his wonderful cakes and there will be comfy couches and calming candles, a place to read, and work and eat chocolate cake! For now, and while we are traveling I can have a smaller, portable version of this dream.”
To see more of Claire’s story, check out her work, her shop, or her instagram.
