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[ January 22nd, 2006 ]
Her work gives you pause. It is evocative, meditative, intuitive, and a feast for the senses. Each image tells a story filled with impending possibility. Whether she is photographing a child, a tree, a pair of hands, a dancing leaf, or a stormy sea, you have the sense that Nicole is capturing a miracle - seeing what is there for an instant in the moment, seeing beneath the skin of things, responding to the call of something greater in order to reveal her subject's unspoken, unexpressed essence. Look at her work today and you can almost imagine the small child she once was, mesmerized and awed by the beauty and the surprise she found daily in nature. " I had a lot of freedom when I was a child and I spent most of my time outside experiencing the weather and the wind and the light and the feeling around me. I would wander and dream and watch things move."
She picked up her first camera - a Leica - at 19 years of age. It was love at first sight - sound - and touch. "I loved the mechanics of that camera. I loved how when I pushed the shutter, it made this quiet, satisfying 'thunk' sound. It was a sensual, tactile experience - and I had control. I could shut out the things I did not want to see and just focus on the specifics of what I wanted." She shot 16mm movies while attending film school at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and learned how to use light. 'I always knew I could shoot. I just had an eye. I always knew that if it related to looking, I could do it."
How did you get your start?
Soon my client base was expanding and there were a lot of nice sized jobs for clients such as The Gap, Levis, Imaginarium and so on. I learned so much about subtlety, about spatial distances, about how to get people to do what I needed them to do. I shot for Macy's and Macy's was my graduate school. I worked in the studio and on location, photographing everything: fashion, beautiful girls, women, men, children, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, socks, every department, every thing. There were often challenges, but I always got the shot. My mantra: I always get the shot. On the personal side at that time, I had a baby and I wanted to work less and be with him. My husband and I moved to Los Angeles in 1988 and I worked for many Blue Chip clients such as Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, and Target. Things started to change in the 90's as computers became more a part of business. Cameras were getting smarter and it seemed that everybody was a photographer! Then in 1999 I got stuck. I didn't know what the commercial world wanted. I had no idea what I wanted either. I stopped working for a year. It was hell. Looking back I see I was being forced to re-invent myself, to find and own my vision. I call it "LATE START FOR A LONG HAUL"
My current works are diptychs-two images that work together in ways that make aesthetic sense to me-and I am collaborating with you, Christiane, on a coffee table book about Prosperity. It is a powerful book about benevolence and love and well-being and transforming consciousness. It is about saying Yes! Yes to Life, Yes to yourself! Yes to your dreams! It is a genre-breaker. You won't see another book like it on the market, I promise you that! - Contributed by Christiane Schull >> See more work from Nicole Katano>> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
