55. Bookish Bronte: Instagram Book Photographer on Mary Queen of Scots, Tuscany, New York State’s Lake George and C...

Over on instagram a reading revolution has spurned many #Bookstagram stars, including the delightful Bookish Bronte aka Bronte Huskinson, 22 year old author, visual storyteller and creator of beautiful book photography. A self-appointed champion of creative introverts she loves finding the best book-friendly villages wherever she travels and finds her happy place in a picturesque beach town on Lake George in New York State. We talk Instagram ethics, magical realism, feminism and feminine energy, travelling outside our comfort zones and so much more with Bronte Huskinson.
 
On this episode we cover:
 
Content creator
Visual storyteller
Book photographer
Starting instagram to help boost her profile as a writer
How her instagram account exploded
Discovering #Bookstagram
Starting with ‘flat lays’
Having 60k followers on Insta
The ethereal quality of her photos
Photos of books as an art form
Inspiration from the books themselves
Magical realism
Feminism and feminine energy
The hard work it takes to create a good image
Clever tricks on Photoshop
The growth of Instagram
How instagram creates a more level playing field
The touch job market for someone her age (now 22)
Watching her friends struggle to get jobs
Creating her own work
How much she earns
Whether Instagram will be around a long time
People not really using Facebook anymore
Wanting to do more than being paid to advertise on Instagram
Wanting to be a woman’s advocate
The importance of social media in promoting projects
Her writing work
Accidentally offending people with her book photos
India’s issue with stepping on books
Marie Kondo chucking out books
Using ARCs – Advanced Reader’s Copy of books – when she has to rip things up
The history of burning or destroying of books
Book called The Binding by Bridget Collins
How she Photoshops her images
How she lives in a two bedroom terraced house rather than a run down ethereal mansion
Taking most of her photos in her hallway
Her lovely floor!
Lying on books
Using a brown wooden floor backdrop
Not relating to being ‘an influencer’
How women find it hard to admit they’re good at something
Being a ‘champion of creative introverts’
Thriving online
Whether introverts are more creative than extroverts
Being a painfully shy child – Lisa and Bronte
Lisa deciding not to be shy any more
Pushing ourselves out of comfort zone
Perfecting useful skills age 21/22
Having the resolution to travel more
Visiting the hotel that has the staircase on which Mary Queen of Scots walked down the staircase before execution (the Hotel Talbot Hotel in Oundle, Northamptonshire and the staircase said to be from Fotheringhay Castle)
The outline of the ring where Mary pressed it into the wood of the staircase.
Wanting to do more photos in beautiful locations
Spending several summers in New York State
Preferring the calm of Lake George and Saratoga to New York City
Specials days on the beach at Lake George
Her travel ambitions
Whether university leavers still go on a Gap Year
Realising she can’t do everything
Fitting in her instagram account style to travel
Being a homebody who wants to travel ‘bookish little places in the UK’
The beauty of Hay on Wye in Wales and its countless bookshops
Lisa suggests she visits Haworth to and the Bronte’s house
Doing a Wuthering Heights photo on the Yorkshire Moors
Lisa’s trip to the house where AA Milne wrote Winnie the Pooh, also the house where Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones died in the pool in the Ashdown Forrest
Spending a week in Tuscany and wanting to return to Crete
The big discussion on mumsnet and in other media about the responsibilities of ‘Insta mums’ and taking freebies
How travel industry freebies often work
Instagram changes travel and attracting tourism
Instagram also causing problems with over tourism
Her trip to Ireland to promote the Happy Pear Book from the Happy Pear Restaurant
Lisa getting stopped by police in Sugar Loaf in New York State
and accidentally driving into West Point Military Academy when President Bush was about to land
How travel can open people’s minds
How being on instagram has made her ‘become a better person’ by getting to know people from all over the world
How travel is character building
Being obsessed with the Runaway by Tall Heights