I came across Nicole Mabry’s photography in JPGMag, which published a very interesting article she wrote about cross processing black and white film. I liked her photography so much I asked her to do an interview. Here it is:

How would you describe your photographic vision? What kind of look/atmosphere/feel do you try and create in your photos?

Most of the time I see things around me that inspire me; lines or shapes, but those generally lead me into some kind of emotion for the image. Although whether or not the viewer gets this I’m not sure. I’m more about composition than anything else. I try to create images that are aesthetically striking and draw you in, and then hopefully inspire you to see/feel more than just the composition.

A lot of times however, I see images in my dreams or just waking that I carry over. I try to gather up a lot of these images in my head before I do a shoot, that way I can have a lot of creative imagery to draw from.

What’s your favourite colour? How do you like to use it in your photography?

My favorite color is yellow, although I’m not sure I’ve used it much in my photography. I shoot mainly natural light, so I suppose yellow is in everything I do as the sunlight is yellow in it’s most basic form. But as a compositional piece, I haven’t used it much, I should though, thanks!

Colour or black & white…which do you prefer and why?

I started out preferring black and white because I love the absence of light and the presence of light in contrast in an image. I found that this works best in Black and white images especially when contrast is bumped up.

But lately I’ve been working more in color, and seeing more in color. I think when I close my eyes and see things in a photographic way, moreso in the present those images have been in color, but I’m not sure why, it’s just the way it has been happening.

I see you live in Queens, New York. How does living in New York influence your photography?

I grew up in a pretty surburban area in northern California surrounded by amazing landscapes. So while in photography school I had many places to shoot, and to inspire me. Then I moved to Los Angeles for a collective total of 5 years. To be honest L.A. really didn’t inspire me at all, and I felt fairly dormant artistically during my time there.

Once I moved to NY, I felt like I had moved into a new phase in my artistic career. Literally my eyes were taking pictures of everything they saw. I hadn’t felt that inspired since college. There is so much activity, color, and graphic inspiration in this city, it would be hard for me not to be creative here. The landscape is so different than what I’m used to as well. The grittiness and architectural aspects have changed the way I use my background space, in a way I love.

Your work is very creative. Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?

Well like I said, a lot of it comes from dreams, and just walking around and seeing things. I can see one thing, the light from something, or the line of something and my mind will start spinning on how I can turn that into something else.

I work in fashion so I see a lot of photography every day, although that’s not really my style, it’s still imagery that I can work off of. I tend to see beauty in every woman I see, especially the ones I know personally. Every one of my shoots of women has been someone I’m personally friends with, and a lot of times I do it because they don’t see how beautiful they are.

I try to emphasize one or two aspects that I believe are truly amazing on them, and photograph it in a creative and beautiful way. When they see the photos they are amazed; they can see themselves in a whole new way. I love giving that to them.

Nature has a strong presence in a lot of work, for example you have many portraits and nudes taken outside. What role does nature play in your photography?

Being that I grew up in Northern California, I love nature and landscapes. But that was never my strong suit. However, having such wonderful surroundings, I had to use them. Eventually I started seeing parallels in nudes and nature. The lines, curves, and even the emotional expression for me were mimicked.

I try to play that up as much as possible by choosing a setting that evokes the mood I’m trying to create with the positioning and pose of the model. I actually started a project of my nudes side by side with a nature shot that will correspond to the nude in some way. Although I have a feeling this will take some time because the nature side doesn’t come as naturally to me.

You take a lot of nude studies. What kind of ideas do you like to explore with your nudes?

I come from a family where nudity was strictly forbidden. I also wasn’t exposed to much art until college. When I was at UCLA getting my Art History degree, I chose my emphasis as Buddhist and Hindu art. This is really the firsts place I saw nudity in art. It really amazed me how free it all was. I think this is when I really started getting into the nudes. They emphasized they lushness of their bodies and the curves as creatures of creation and bounty.

I try to emphasize the unique curves and shape of each woman’s body I shoot. Every woman is so different and evokes something new. I actually did a self portrait nude as kind of a therapy for myself in getting over my nudity issues from childhood. Nudity is so taboo when it’s out in the open but we all want to see it even if we don’t admit it.

I suppose what I try to do is show it in a beautiful, thoughtful, and artistic way, so that we can revere it in it’s most basic form without feeling awkward about it.

Name three photographers you like and why.

I’ve always loved WeeGee. His off the cuff way of shooting, but at the same time being able to capture emotion and elegance in nightlife has always amazed me.

My friend in California Brian Johnson is also one of my favorite photographers. His work is so eerie, you can’t look away. The way his mind works is fascinating, I could look at some of his photos for hours and still not have a good grasp on what they mean.

I’ve always loved Alfred Stieglitz. His photographs of old New York City are what drew me into the city in the first place. But he has some amazing portraits of his wife Georgia O’Keefe that are equally evocative.

Where is your photography going? What future photographic project or projects are you excited about?

Honestly I don’t have anything specifically in mind, except the nude/nature project I mentioned earlier. Everything I’ve ever done has happened organically. Submitting images to JPGmag has encouraged me to self-assign myself when I don’t have something for a particular category.

I haven’t focused on the nudes in awhile, although I manage to sneak at least a semi-nude one in just about every shoot. Lately I’ve been more into body parts, i.e. arms, legs, torso’s, etc. I’m not sure if the nudes have run their course with me or if I’ll go back to them. But I am pretty sure I will always shoot women and their bodies. For some reason this has always inspired and amazed me. I’m also very into odd lighting (i.e. backlighting) and angles.

When did you start taking photos and why? What made you decide to become a photographer?

I started right after high school. My best friend at the time was really thin and beautiful and for some reason I just wanted to photograph her. I borrowed a manual pentax 35mm camera from a friend and just figured it out. We would shoot all the time, not really with anything in mind, just to document how pretty she was.

When I was in Junior College, a girl on my soccer team was taking a photography class and I knew I had to take one. That was the start of it. When I was done with my A.A. I wanted to go right into photography school, but my parents weren’t too thrilled with that idea and wanted me to get a degree in something more stable first.

So I went to UCLA and did Art History. When I was done, I still wanted to do photography, so I moved back up north and went to Cal State Hayward and got a dual degree in Photography and digital graphics. I’m not sure what definitively made me want to become a photographer. I honestly think it chose me and that I didn’t really have any other choice.

It’s like that for me when I have ideas roaming around in my head. When they are in there for too long, I know I have to plan a shoot and get them out, or I’ll just go crazy. When I started taking photos that’s how it was; I didn’t know why, I just knew I had to.

Bonus Question: Your dream assignment. What is it?

All I’ve ever wanted to do with my photography is have it be seen in an artistic way by as many people as possible. I would love to have my work in a gallery. So I guess when you say “assignment”, for me that would be to get a gallery show in New York City, and then have to shoot and prepare for it. That would be the hardest and most pleasurable thing photographically for me.

You can see Nicole’s work at her website nicolemabry.com and also on JPGMag.

She can be contacted by email here: fornickels (at) gmail.com.

This photo is one I took recently and is an example of the backlighting I was talking about. It’s currently untitled.

This has always been one of my favorites. It’s an example of the positive and negative light spaces I was talking about. The contrast of the two is shown mainly in her shoulders. It is also Untitled.

I like this photo because it turned out exactly as I wanted it to, which rarely happens in photography. I wanted it to evoke a semi-creepy yet sexy feel. For me it does that, but for others it does something completely different. It’s titled “Hidden Pixie Part I”.

This is my favorite photo I’ve ever taken. Compositionally I think it’s the best I’ve ever arranged. But all in all I think it accomplishes what I was hoping to achieve, which is emphasizing the curves of her body and contrasting the texture of her skin with the blanket below her. It’s titled “Sunbather”.

All photos copyright © 2007 Nicole Mabry. Please contact the photographer for permission to use.

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