In many of the world’s languages, one doesn’t “take” a photograph; one “makes” a photograph. That distinction is at the heart of the fantastical, otherworldly oeuvre of Columbus, Ohio-based photographer Laura Dark, M.Photog., CPP. She doesn’t merely capture an image; she creates it, layering in insight about the subject, extraordinary technique, and her wild imagination.

The result is pure magic. Her aesthetic has been described as goth, alternative, avant garde, dark, eerie, and deeply creative—evocative words that don’t quite capture the way her images morph and melt before your eyes.

It’s a look and feel that could only emanate from someone who looks and feels like the photos she creates. With jet black hair and neck-to-feet tattoos, Dark, 48, whose last name is a pseudonym, got her start during the 1990s grunge era as a photographer for her high school newspaper and yearbook in tiny Fredericktown, Ohio.

Here, Try This!

“I didn’t have equipment, so my grandfather taught me to use a manual camera he bought in the 1970s,” Dark explains. “It was one of the first of its kind—a Nikon F with a Photomic FTn finder and built-in light meter on top.”  She learned quickly and enjoyed high school photojournalism before heading to the Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) after graduation to study graphic design.

“Back then, photography was all about film and developing, and I never loved the darkroom,” she says. “I have super-sensitive skin and I’m not good around chemicals, so photography didn’t seem like something I wanted to do long term.” Dark spent two years at CCAD before returning to Fredericktown, where she realized that what she liked about photography outweighed her disaffection for the darkroom.

Dark landed her first gig as an apprentice to the owner of a popular storefront photography studio in town. She spent two years learning the business and the craft, until the studio closed. Working a couple of non-photography jobs to pay the bills, Dark scored occasional photo gigs from family, friends, and some local rock and alternative bands, eventually carving out studio space in her grandfather’s radio repair shop.

Hi, It’s Gothic Calling

In the early 2000s, the band work attracted the attention of Gothic Beauty Magazine, a then-new publication devoted to alternative fashion and dark elegance. “They were looking for somebody to shoot periodic fashion editorials and they’d seen and loved my work,” Dark says. She jumped at the chance to photograph cool new clothing and makeup lines for the glossy magazine.

Her work was getting noticed locally, too, especially among members of the alternative community. “I was shooting people who looked different and wanted different kinds of colored hair and tattoos and crazy makeup,” she says. Typically, emerging models came away with stunning portfolios in exchange for content that Dark, early into social media, posted to boost her visibility.

In 2004, Dark moved to Columbus, Ohio. Dark’s world brightened when she met her now-husband, Josh, through the local tattoo community. In Columbus, she worked as a merchandiser for a department store while moonlighting as a photographer, mostly in the alternative and boudoir spaces. “I was one of those people who didn’t want to go to digital, but it was getting harder to find film and get it developed,” she recalls, adding that her mother-in-law bought Dark her first digital camera, a Canon, when she was pregnant.

More Than a Fun Escape

After a few years using the family’s spare bedroom as a studio, Dark moved into a 10x10 space in a friend’s warehouse. “That little space,” she says, “is where Laura Dark Photography really started.” Her client base expanded, not only in number but in nature, as she began to attract a group she calls “regular women,” eager to escape diapers and sippy cups and indulge in a couple hours of expertly curated fantasy. Through her clientele, Dark transitioned into a women-only photography space.

 “I was also getting women who were going through a divorce, who had medical problems, or were survivors of abuse or cancer, and just wanted to get away from it all,” Dark says. “They wanted to briefly be somebody else, and I was giving them the opportunity to feel beautiful, to be able to say, ‘Look what I can be, not just breastfeeding, cleaning, or serving in the military with my hair pulled back.”

Some clients arrived with a fully formed idea of how they wanted to be photographed, while others chose to be inspired, and sometimes surprised, by Dark’s high-octane visions. Dark brought in outside hair and makeup artists, and built an extensive wardrobe inventory. She also developed various aesthetics. One of the most popular is “candy girl,” (below) a motif in which the subject is coated and covered in sugary treats such as ribbon candy, lollipops, and brightly wrapped chewy candy, with plenty of gooey stuff dripping from an artfully painted lower lip. Dark partnered with handlers from local animal educational centers to offer studio sessions featuring live wolves, owls, and falcons.

For Dark, the magic is in the camera. “My philosophy is to get it correct in camera and shoot for purpose,” she explains. “If I want somebody to look like they have pink goo dripping out of their eye, I go to makeup and say, ‘This is what I want.’ I’m big on building elaborate sets so I don’t have to add elements in post work, including a lot of correction with lighting. I set things up so I can cull my images and take it right into the beauty editing process.”

Dark offers one package add-on that is the exception to her practical effects philosophy, where the client is depicted in an outfit even she couldn’t pull off—such as a flaming gown. Dark uses Midjourney, a text-to-image AI program, to interpret her vision, which she combines with a headshot. 

Amazing Journey

Dark’s unique aesthetic draws clients from across the country and has earned her multiple accolades, including a PPA master of photography degree. Her greatest satisfaction, though, is the reaction of clients who treasure the experience of being in her studio—maybe even more than the resulting images, she says. “I love what I do as an artistic outlet and as a business,” says Dark. “But I especially love what I do for the women—the chance to hear their stories and go through this amazing journey with them.”   

Evelyn Sacks is an Atlanta-based writer.