Instagram Stories: @LaureJoliet

All photos courtesy of @laurejoliet

Anything that makes you feel small, makes you start fantasizing, or makes you want to hang on to something, those are the moments I like to capture," Laure Joliet explains of her photographer's instinct. It's without a doubt those qualities that make her Instagram feed so transfixing—providing a little jolt of wanderlust to all who lose themselves in her beautiful imagery, whether the subject is a stylish interior destined for the pages of The New York Times, a beach scene from her native Los Angeles, or a beloved snapshot from her grandmother's weaving atelier in Paris, where she spent stretches of her childhood. "Between the French joie de vivre and running around barefoot in California, I learned early on that having time for the things that fill you up is the most important thing; those are the moments that a good life is woven from," she says. "I think that’s what draws me to all these lovely homes—connecting with people who are building and creating a life all their own."

Hooked on a feeling

"I try to go with my gut, so if I'm having a reaction to a place, I know that it will resonate with other people, too. It helps that in a new place you're much more aware of your surroundings: the light on the floor, the curtains in your room, the dawn commute in an unfamiliar city—suddenly everything feels special and alive. I look for those moments and ways to capture that feeling."

Far and Away

"Having experiences pop up out of the blue and throw me into an adventure is my absolute favorite part of the job. I shot a yurt in Jackson, Wyoming, last December for The New York Times. I got the assignment two days before I needed to be there, so I scrambled pulling all the details together, and then suddenly I was in Wyoming, in the snow, on an adventure. I had never been somewhere so big. I spent the day with a fascinating writer. It was both cozy and disorienting to suddenly be so far from my life."

the french connection

"I think traveling so much as a kid made me really sensitive to my environment. Wherever I was, I always tried to find a sense of home, of comfort. I looked for the familiar and often found it in mundane moments. We stayed in my grandmother's weaving atelier when we visited Paris, and I started photographing her creative messes and piles of dishes—small details that made me feel rooted. My work was always about home and the everyday."

The Instagram effect

"When I travel I reach out to people I follow in those cities and more often than not we meet in person and get to connect. A couple times I've been stopped by people who were fans [of my account] and they asked about my cat and my boyfriend, and knew that I had just been on a trip. It is a little odd, but I love that I’ve met so many people, discovered so many places I want to go, and been inspired so often. I always just have to seek the balance between how much I’m showing and how much I’m filling up on real inspiration."