Lauren Barnett on creating UGC and lifestyle campaigns for global brands

Meet Lauren Barnett, a London-based photographer and UGC creator who makes the kind of content brands want and audiences can relate to.

Lauren joined us nearly six years ago and she has been booking work with global brands ever since, including Jack Daniel's, Sprite, Snickers, Mike's Hard Seltzer and Dr Pepper...what a calibre of brands she can claim. She is a true all-rounder who moves between authentic UGC and polished lifestyle content without missing a beat, which is why she is one of the first names we think of when a brief needs both.

She is now a mother, and her work has never felt warmer or more honest. It has been a joy to watch her creativity grow over these years, and she is truly flourishing with motherhood. Her recent work for Philips is testament to that and we are excited to see more as her family grows.

We caught up with Lauren (whilst juggling a newborn) to learn more about how she got started, how her photography has evolved and what helped her turn a childhood passion into work for some of the world's biggest brands.

Let’s chat with Lauren

Hey everyone! I’m Lauren Barnett. I started creating content when I worked at a bar and their social media was needing a bit of love. I had always been interested in cameras as my dad always had them around us, then I bought my first professional camera when I was about 19.

I like to say I’m a jack of all trades and dip my toe into all sorts of genres, but the majority of my work is probably in food! Recipe/UGC and restaurant shoots.

I lean towards a bright, airy and organic aesthetic with a focus on natural light, thoughtful styling and genuine storytelling. I like my content to feel lived-in rather than overly commercial.

Journey with Creatively Squared

I first discovered Creatively Squared years ago, I think I saw an ad and applied! One of my first jobs I did with Creatively Squared was for Mike’s Hard Seltzers years ago, and I still love some of those images and have them in my portfolio still. It’s not often you like work from years ago when you’ve improved, but these use all my favourite things; natural light, people, lifestyle and genuine life.

Tools of the trade

As much gear as possible, I’ll try everything. I just bought a torch that makes it look like a sunset which is cool. Always camera for photos, and mainly iPhone for videos now - that seems to be what clients want, lo-fi authentic looking footage.

I love using stunning simple Glassware, especially thin expensive looking ones. Then simple, block colour plates and bowls. Most of my creative work is either at home in kitchen, or on location for example at a restaurant!

Lauren’s creative process

I do a bit of both planning and winging it whenever I have a photoshoot, depends what the brief is! I think it’s important a brief isn’t too rigid that it removes natural creativity so my favourite are when the client knows what they want roughly but doesn’t know how to achieve it and that’s where I come in.

My husband is always on hand, literally, to help me! He knew what he was getting into when he met me though 🤣 all my friends are amazing helps too! The things I have made them do and model for over the years and they never complain. I am very lucky - because a lot of my stuff is lifestyle I often need extra hands or models in the content.

I need silence to work, sometimes I’m learning a script so need to repeat the lines over and over, sometimes I’m working with liquids and ice so I’m on a time constraint so it’s very much focused and in the zone. I now have a newborn baby so it’s even more time restricted and I need to be fast and get the job done as well as possible in the shortest time. I need to not overthink the photos/videos or that restricts my creativity too.

Lauren puts this fun hack to the test in this UGC for Dr. Pepper. Source: Creatively Squared

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Finding inspiration

Honestly, none in particular, I follow lots of lifestyle content creators, just scrolling gives me inspiration but nobody I go back to time and time again - which I think is maybe a good thing! Sometimes you can get too fixated on recreating someone else’s style, when you need to find your own and focus on that!

Top creative tip

Just do it. Literally get your phone out and start making content!
On an iPhone, 2x zoom is your best friend. Natural lighting always wins and makes everything look better.

Lastly, what’s next for you?

I need to get better at artificial lighting, I started using an external flash properly last year which has been great for some shoots but I often struggle to learn new things and lighting is complicated! But I’m slowly learning more!

Thank you Lauren for being such a reliable and inspiring creator and valued member of the Creatively Squared community over the years. We’ve loved watching your journey and life unfold and seeing how your work continues to evolve.

Follow Lauren on Instagram at @lcb_loves to see more of her work in action.