Stepping In Front of the Camera:
a multimedia story by Rosemary Cruse
What were you into at fourteen years old? Sports, girls, boys, one direction. The case was a little different for Lily Cruse. Lily was picking up her first digital camera and capturing the world around her.
Flash forward two years…
What were you doing at sixteen years old? Learning to drive a car, having your first kiss, going to your first school dance? Lily was starting her business and creating a brand for herself.
Flash forward three more years…
What were you doing at 18 years old? Graduating High school, going to Prom, applying to college? Lily was purchasing her LLC to create a license for her brand.
...
Born and raised in rural Kentucky, Lily Cruse always knew she was bound to be bigger and better than her small farm town. Lily worked extremely hard to make this vision her reality at just sixteen years old. LilyonFilm had been born. Lily created a following within Lexington, gathered a list of clients, and most importantly started producing incredible work at an extreamely fast pace.
What is LilyonFilm?
“Lily on film is my photography business where the focus is to inspire other people to embrace their creative side”
Based primarily off of Instagram and Facebook, Lily does a variety of creative shoots, videos, client booked, and aesthetic concept work. While Lily does freelance work such as senior sessions, engagement shoots,sports photography and traditional portraits, her true passion lies within the creative field of photography. This is also where most of her recognition and unique flare is highlighted. Her Instagram highlights her creative concept shoots. Taking a scroll through her Instagram feed you'll find yourself immersed in bright colors, vibrant aesthetics, compelling narratives, and in total awe of the creativity that each post exudes. While each and every one of Lily’s shoots could be highlighted, three main works stand out when looking through her portfolio.
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT
So you may be wondering what put lilyonfilm on the map, and that would be her ‘Queen’s Gambit’ inspired shoot hosted by the 21C Hotel’s Harmon room. Here’s what Lily had to say about this project,
“ I had the honor of shooting in 21C Lexington's "Harmon room", inspired by the show " The show's storyline actually takes place in lexington, Kentucky, so it was very cool to shoot in the city the show is based off of! I really have to give props to my models, Emma Buchannon, Kayla Alexander, Meagan Crews and Alex Francke. These ladies brought this shoot to life and really came into character for their shots. What I love about this shoot is how it all began. Kayla reached out to me wanting to do a Queen's Gambit inspired shoot for herself. She had so many creative ideas and I was so excited to work with her. About two weeks before the shoot, I saw an advertisement for the harmon room at 21c. I reached out to Kayla and told her that we should bring this shoot to the next level. It all worked out perfectly and I was able to rent the room for the shoot. Emma, Meagan and Alex came on board and were so excited to join in on this project. My main goal was to keep these photos historically accurate to the 1960's. A huge portion of what accomplished that aside from the room, was the clothing. Kayla's outfits were sponsored by wear house Kentucky and makeup done by Naomi. Alex and Meagan's outfits were sponsored by street scene vintage and Emma's outfits were some of my great grandmother's clothing from the 60's.”
This opportunity was what led to Lily’s first publication in Tops Magazine in April 2021. This success only drove Lily to want to do better, to come up with more unique concepts to photograph.
Within this video, Lily discusses the excitement and sense of accomplishment she gets from her Queen's Gambit shoot...
THE KENTUCKY CASTLE
Another one of Lily’s most notable shoots was when she took every young girl’s fairytale dreams and made them a reality. With the help of some real-life princesses, Lily was able to take a historic Kentucky landmark and entangle that with the world of fairytales and princesses.
“One of the most famous landmarks of Kentucky is the castle in Versailles. Below are some of my favorites from the shoot with Alex Francke, who currently holds the Miss Kentucky title, and Meagan Crews, who is a former Miss Louisiana. This shoot was truly one of my favorites I've ever done. Not only are the pictures amazing, but shooting with Meagan and Alex is always the best time. These ladies are my go to models that are always up for creative ideas, the photos speak for themselves!” Lily Cruse
ABANDONED
Besides creative shoots, Lily also has a passion for editorial photography. This style of photography is typically described as photos that come together to form a story. In Lily’s case, she chose to use her editorial projects to talk about deeper issues that face our society. In her piece, ‘Abandoned’ she describes her photos as such, "ABANDONED" is a collaborative editorial shoot done with @watered_words, @rosemarycruse, and @johnrichardw. We are living in a broken world, a broken society, and a broken population. At the end of the day, all you have is yourself, and that is the equivalent of being ABANDONED... ” Click HERE to see the final photos!
Lily's Tips & Advice
The world of media can be intimidating, within this video Lily shares her biggest peice of advice for a starting photographer, a lesson she had to learn the hard way....
Undertaking a photoshoot can be overwhelming, within this video Lily discusses her favorite was of preparing for one, creating a mood board. She also shares insight on an extremely important factor of photography, lighting....
But what is left when the camera turns off?
The Lily Cruse that is behind the camera is a girl who has been through her fair share of hard times. From overcoming challenges in her childhood, to falling victim to the harsh world of comparison and body image. Lily however, is also someone who knows how to create beautiful things out of these hardships. The girl behind the camera knows how to make her models feel beautiful in their own skin, she knows how to embrace the uniqueness that is so often suppressed and she knows how to celebrate acceptance in every one of her shoots. These are the things that make shooting with LilyonFilm different from your average photographer.
“As a female, or even in a larger context, as a young adult in this day and age, the world is extremely harsh on us. When I look back, I begin to realize why I even began photography in the first place, subconsciously I had a fear of being in front of the camera. I was terrified of what the world might think of me, or how they might judge me. Now, I look at my business as a way to counteract that. Yes, this deep philosophical goal of mine might not be advertised on my website or in the contract my clients sign, but it’s in all the little things I do throughout my photoshoots. It’s in the way that I speak to my clients, the way I edit my photos, and in the way I encourage those I work with to try anything, because who knows, it might just be your best photo yet.”
Nineteen Years Old
After looking at all of the accomplishments of Lily Cruse, it’s easy to be in awe. It's easy to forget the fact that she has only been at this art for about six years. When you strip it all back she truly is just at the beginning of her journey, and it’s one that's bound to be incredible. At such a young age Lily cruse has been able to achieve so much, but also to become an advocate for so many people.
"So get out there and start shooting!"
Credits
AUTHOR, EDITOR, PRODUCER
ROSEMARY CRUSE
PHOTOS COURTESY OF
LILY CRUSE