S: So we’ll go ahead and cut straight to it. How long have you been shooting?

N: Probably…well professionally for about, I want to say, 5-6 years. I’ve always been shooting probably since like eighth grade. I got my first point and shoot camera so I would always just take pictures of anything around me.

S: Anything? No particular subject matter?

N: No just anything I could find basically, just constantly taking pictures, even of myself you know? A lot of self-portraits, a lot of dorky pictures. I was obsessed with it, and then in freshman year of high school my parents got me my first DSLR, it was a Canon, and I shot with that, and had that for years and just used it like crazy. I just took pictures all the time of everything, of everybody; my friends and stuff like that and…yeah. So then I started working at a portrait studio and I was just working in the front at first, and then the next year…that was the summer before senior year of high school, and then the next summer after high school, after I graduated, I started working as a photographer officially and i learned most of what I know from them. I took photography classes in high school and stuff, I believe it was tenth grade I had my Photo I class, and that’s when I became more artsy with it and having more of a subject and focusing on subjects more and being more creative, messing with the camera settings and…yeah

S: I know you do a lot of portraiture. Would you say that’s you’re preferred subject matter?

N: Yes, most definitely I like people and capturing expressions and moments and…showing the beauty of someone through the camera. Really photography is all about illusion, so like, doing something and then on camera it’s like whoa! And then in person it’s just like…a piece of paper of something so just little stuff like that, I think it’s cool how you can create magic with a camera.

S: Is it always portraiture or was there a certain point in time when you decided that portraiture is more my thing?

N: I don’t know. I’ve just always like people and taking pictures of people. I think landscapes and stuff like that is kind of boring, or even just product photography it’s just…not my thing. Not saying people who do that…like it’s not cool, because it is…even food photography, that takes skill you know? You have to know how to place everything. So yeah with portraits, I’ve just always like taking pictures of people, even if it was just myself, that’s always been something I drew close to.

S: So you also do self-portraiture?

N: Not much anymore, I used to do it a lot more because I was bored and didn’t have any time so I would just take pictures constantly and changed my profile picture on Facebook like SO much! But slowly as I got older it was less and less.

S: How would you say it has been working within the framework of Jacksonville as an artistic community? Because I’m assuming you’ve lived in Jacksonville all your life?

N: Yeah, so what do you mean by that?

S: Like how would you describe the art community in Jacksonville and how has it been working within that framework?

N: It’s been pretty difficult because a lot of people, you know, not saying anyone can’t be a photographer but there is a difference between a professional and an amateur, and a lot of people don’t know that. They think anyone can just be a professional, anyone can take pictures but there’s a lot that goes into it, a lot of training, and you also have to have the eye for it to really become a professional…and I just think it gets lost in that translation because getting a camera is so easy now, if you have a couple hundred dollars you can get one and boom, you’re a professional who shoots on auto! Like come on…and people get paid to do that! Whereas the real artists are not as valued as much because it’s so readily available and the more high-tech our phones get, like the new iPhone 7…

S: iphonography

N: Exactly, and I mean not saying that you can’t do that but it makes it…pictures aren’t seen as special moments anymore, like back when the cameras were first invented it was very significant when you took pictures, now it’s kind of more like…here’s a bunch of crap-ton of pictures! And I feel like there’s a level, like I feel like there’s art as photography, and even just good portraiture, and then there’s like…how do I explain it? Not exactly…porn photography, but like…guys who take advantage of girls who want to be models or something like that and…and they get paid for it, or they don’t.

S: Like photography made specifically for the male gaze

N: Yeah, exactly. And not saying that you can’t do that or do it in an artsy way, but I feel like it’s just too much of that and not as much regular photography. Like I don’t have a problem with people doing pictures like that but…like people will do whatever they want but…like…

S: Do you just feel like the market is just kind of over-saturated with it?

N: Exactly, and there’s too much of that, there’s too many creepy…guys mostly, I haven’t seen any girls doing it but

S: Oh no I absolutely agree with you

N: Right like it’s just too much of…that. And models feel like they have to show everything to get their name out there but really they just…look slutty and…it’s not tasteful, that’s the main thing like it’s not tasteful. Because I don’t have any issue with nude photography, because it can be artistic and beautiful but just those…frickin guys, and they get money and they get famous and they don’t even…I mean they may like photography but I just feel like they have a hidden agenda with it. I feel like they’ve found this secret like…oh, we can get girls to take off their clothes and take pictures of them and then…whatever you know? I don’t like that at all, I hate that so much ugh it bothers me!

S: I completely agree with you it’s pretty…it gets repetitive and it gets boring and then you start to realize yeah…you’re doing this for another reason.

N: Exactly, I mean some of the poses and just…oh my gosh. And I mean, I feel like a lot of girls as females and stuff they more so want a male photographer because they feel like oh they know what they’re doing or, I don’t know there’s this whole like…

S: It’s kind of like where the world of photography intersects with like, the sort of patriarchal work environment that exists in America anyway.

N: Yeah it’s just in America and it’s definitely prevalent in photography in general too because it’ll be like oh he’s a guy he’ll know better I guess, that’s just an automatic thought and it’s just like…no I’m actually a really good photographer and I could probably do better, and I’ll make you feel comfortable, because I like to make my people feel comfortable. I don’t do a lot of pictures with like, male models just because I don’t know a lot of guys who want their pictures done anyways. I mostly just shoot friends. It’s not like I would have a problem with…like I have a male photographer friend and we take pictures of each other sometimes and we help each other out and so he’ll tall pictures of me, I’ll take pictures of him and it’s just a friendship, there’s no creepiness no weirdness it’s just chill like…that’s possible, you don’t have to be creepy.

S: Obviously there’s a huge market in the photography world, and just not in the photography world, in the art world for pieces that cater to the male gaze. How do you as a photographer want to subvert that? What’s the antithesis to that? How do you not do that? What do you do instead?

N: Well when I take pictures I like the female to be powerful and she can be seductive but not like in an exposing way, so I feel like empowering women more in pictures than I do in showing their bodies, you know what I mean? So instead of just exposing them, I like the image that sort of captures more of…Yeah, I’m a badass! You know? It’s more powerful and fierce instead of like oh, here’s my body. I mean there’s swimsuit models and stuff not saying that that’s bad it’s just there’s a difference between, you know, and I mean some people like to show off their bodies and that’s cool, do you, I just feel like there’s too much of like…it has to be this way in order for you to be prosperous. That’s a big thing. Just more empowering women, showing that more than just showing women, I feel like that’s the key.

S: Where do you see yourself maybe five, ten years down the line with your photography or what are some goals that you have set for yourself as far as what you want to do with it?

N: I’m probably just going to keep it a hobby, not really going to take it past that probably, I mean I’ll do extra pictures here and there, always keeping it up but, I mean, even just recently…because I’m perusing my degree in graphic design and I’m going more towards digital art than photography, because it’s really not easy to make a living in photography, and I feel like it’s just going to get harder and harder, especially with the iPhones and stuff like that it’s just going to get more difficult so…I feel like for me I’m just going to keep it a hobby and if I get asked to do it than sure, when I have extra time I don’t mind doing it because it’s my thing, and if I ever have an itch to just take pictures I’ll just go take pictures and I’ll just say…hey you, come take pictures! But I mean, just to get better at it, at more of the technical side of it. I want to learn how to use the external flash better and thing like that. But I’m at a very comfortable place with my photography and I’ll get some new equipment and stuff but nothing too crazy I guess. Because I like to paint as well, anything that I can do to express myself.