By Eleanor Schliefke
Milly McDougall is a 25-year-old photographer and illustrator from Staffordshire, who studied Graphic Design and Communication at the University of Leeds. Milly runs a popular online store called “Millistrations” on the site Etsy, where she sells a variety of photographs from around Leeds as prints. She first posted about her photographs in Leeds Student Group just over a year ago and quickly gained a lot of support for her work from fellow Leeds students.
“I was completely shocked with the amount of attention and support the prints got pretty much straight away in ‘Leeds Uni Tickets’ group, which has changed its name now –showing my age haha” says Milly.
Milly feels that this support impacted the way in which she views her work, as well as her self-confidence, "before I started Millistrations I don’t think I had as much belief in my work and creative abilities as I do now. It’s so lovely to know that so many people appreciate and love my work.”
Milly first got into photography at university, where she studied Digital Photography alongside her primary course. “If I’m completely honest, I didn’t do too well! I would love to blame it on having a harsh lecturer but it really came down to being a lazy fresher who thought a 9am lecture on a Friday shouldn’t have been allowed.”
Aside from Milly's photography modules, she managed to twist and adapt almost every design brief she was assigned, so that she was able to go out with her camera and use photography as the main medium. “I was lucky enough to already own a DLSR camera which my mum had lent me to take to university, so every opportunity I had I’d go out and explore Leeds.”
Milly says she never planned to open a shop or sell her photography and illustrations. However, after being furloughed like many others during lockdown, she was able to take the time to slow down and be creative in a way that she enjoyed, rather than feeling like she had to work.
Over the years, Milly had collected many photographs from her time at Leeds and from visiting other cities. She started creating illustrations from them and her work proceeded to become quite popular with her family and friends. This resulted in Milly seeing the interest in the actual photographs themselves.
Milly recently took the step from just selling her photographs online, to also selling them in Leeds University Union Shop. She was approached by an ex-Leeds student who wanted to thank her for creating the photographs of Leeds campus, as she had struggled to find any sentimental leaving gifts sold by the University itself.
This got Milly thinking about all the other students who had their time at university cut short and how they too might be interested in her photographs. “I got in contact with the University Union to explain that I have a product which they might be interested in, thinking they wouldn’t even read it let alone reply! It took a good year to get everything in place but its finally happened and I’m over the moon.”
Photograph of University Union Shop (C) Milly Mcdougall
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