LARNIE NICOLSON, PHOTOGRAPHER

"I'M ATTRACHED TO GRITTY LANDSCAPES AND URBAN WASTELANDS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT SAYS ABOUT ME!"

Larnie Nicholson is an Auckland commercial photographer who has degrees in both photography and graphic design. Her photographic work is an amalgamation of the two disciplines.The design element comes into play with the strong use of composition lines that recede, converge and form patterns within the photograph.The photographers eye is in the use of small symbolic details that tell the whole story. For example in a photo entitled "San Francisco". The image is of the shadows cast by the cables of the tourist attraction tram cars. To see Larnie's work view http://www.larnienicolson.com/

ME:TRAVELLING PROVIDED THE CATALYST TO GET YOU INTO PHOTOGRAPHY, HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF TRAVELLING AGAIN OR ARE YOU SETTLED IN NZ?

LARNIE NICOLSON:I don’t feel particularly settled in NZ actually. It’s in my nature to travel and want to see new places. This can be incredibly frustrating at times because it would probably be easier to want to settle down but I just don’t feel that at the moment. Travelling opens the mind and seeing new places for the first time is inspiring.

ME: HOW WAS IT WORKING AND LIVING IN NEW YORK?

LARNIE NICOLSON:I loved New York. I felt very fortunate to be able to live there especially as I lived in a great apartment in Soho. I worked in a busy photography agency while shooting nearly every day. I had an old Polish bike with a basket on the front so I’d pop my heavy Mamiya 645 camera in that and off I’d go exploring.

ME:WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PUBLICATIONS THAT YOUR WORK HAS APPEARED IN?

LARNIE NICOLSON:Urbis, Your Home and Garden, Black, Houses, Urbis Landscapes, Progressive Building, Mob Magazine (Telecom) and Buzz Magazine (Air NZ’s internal magazine)

ME:HAVE YOU EXHIBITED OR THOUGHT OF PRODUCING A BOOK OF YOUR WORK?

LARNIE NICOLSON:I was in the AIPA group exhibition in 2007 which was well received. I think I will probably exhibit again at some stage because I still shoot personal work but it’s not an immediate goal. I’m working on a book idea at the moment. It’s not a book about my work but I would be the photographer. It’s such a good idea but I can’t disclose just yet.

ME: THERE IS A STRONG LINEAR CONTENT IN YOUR WORK, WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR COMPOSITION-WISE WHEN YOU APPROACH A SUBJECT?

LARNIE NICOLSON:I studied Graphic Design before Photography and that influence comes through my work. I always look for strong lines when composing a shot. It’s a concept that is hard to explain as it just happens naturally.

ME:IN YOUR PORTRAIT WORK, THE PEOPLE LOOK POISED BUT RELAXED. HOW DO YOU BUILD A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SUBJECTS?

LARNIE NICOLSON:I get them drunk first. No - I know it can be intimidating having your photo taken so I’m friendly and really do try to make them feel as comfortable as possible. If I am photographing children I find it easy to get on to their level and have fun with them.

ME:WHAT'S THE TRICKIEST PHOTO YOU HAVE TAKEN?

LARNIE NICOLSON:All shoots have a tricky element to them whether it be technical or for some other reason (which is why you hire us!). Shooting Fashion Week is quite tricky because every show is lit so differently and it’s such long days. Architecture is quite technical and probably looks easier to photograph than it is.

ME:WHAT IS THE STRANGEST REQUEST YOU HAVE HAD, FOR A PHOTO?

LARNIE NICOLSON:A guy once called and asked me to take naked photos of him masturbating. Apparently there is an underground swingers club in Auckland and members need a ‘portfolio’. This was pre digital and besides the fact that I didn’t want to shoot him naked or masturbating, I suspected that he wouldn’t be able to get the film developed for legal reasons. I said No, but he really tried to talk me round. I still said No. And then he called me 4 months later to see if I had changed my mind and I said No again. He called me prudish but that’s OK.

ME:WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?

LARNIE NICOLSON:It sounds clichéd, but it’s meeting people. Architecture and Interiors always interest me. I like to see how people arrange their furniture.

ME:YOU ALSO PAINT. DOES YOUR PAINTING FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE IDEAS THAT YOU EXPLORE IN YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY. OR DO YOU TREAT PAINTING IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MANNER

LARNIE NICOLSON:I think they are quite different. My painting style is bright and quirky. In saying that, there is a dark element to my paintings and that also runs through my photography. I’m attracted to gritty landscapes and urban wastelands. I don’t know what that says about me!

PHOTO: KRISTIAN FRIRES

"I'D LIKE TO THINK THAT ELEMENTS OF MY PERSONAL WORK LEAK INTO MY PROFESSIONAL WORK... THEY INEVITABLY DO I THINK."

CONOR CLARK IS A NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHER, BASED IN AUCKLAND, WHOSE WORK ENCOMPASSES BOTH COMMERCIAL AND ARTISTIC REALMS. WWW.CONORCLARKE .CO.NZ

ME: DID YOU DECIDE PRETTY MUCH AT ART SCHOOL, THAT YOU WANTED TO WORK AS COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER, OR WAS IT A LONGER PROCESS?

CONOR CLARKE:No I didn't. I went to art school to be a painter and learnt photography as a means of documenting my paintings. I quickly found that I could use the photographic medium to realise my ideas much better than I could with paint. I enjoyed the process of collecting images and making 'paintings' or constructions out of these collected photographs, as opposed to painting them from scratch. In terms of commercial photography, this is something I kind of fell into by starting to photograph my flatmates' band, and then their friends bands and so on, etc. that's how I got into live music photography, then events and portraiture (which is my preferred area).

ME: WHICH ARTISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS DO YOU ADMIRE?

CONOR CLARKE: ohhh lots...a mix or artists, photographer and both: but the first ones that come to mind, and are therefore probably my favourites are Patricia Piccinini, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Jae Hoon Lee, Fiona Connor, Fiona Amundsen, Loretta Lux, Yvonne Todd.

ME: HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN YOUR COMMERCIAL AND ART PHOTOGRAPHY?

CONOR CLARKE: Commercial photography generates the money I need to live, and to make my personal work. It is generally always commissioned, and almost always shot digitally (whereas all personal work is shot on 6x7 film). The personal stuff is what I'm passionate about. Things I'm interested in, things that I research and collect. Almost always symmetrical, and ordered. Interests are: colonialism, the need for order and therefore disorder, front yards, topiary, formal gardens, roses, the need for maintenance, the culture of collecting, labelling, symmetry, competitiveness and pride, all things that are normalising.... I'd like to think that elements of my personal work leak into my portrait work...they inevitably do I think.

ME: YOUR COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY FOCUSES ON PEOPLE AND PORTRAITS AND IN YOU ART WORK (FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN) THERE IS NO ONE!INTENTIONAL?

CONOR CLARKE:Actually not all that intentional...sometimes there are people in the backgrounds of some of my personal images...if they walk in, etc. I enjoy photographing people a whole lot, but I find in my personal work I prefer to be more subtle in my approach, and find that using images of people say too much. Their clothes, their expression, the style of their hair, their make-up, etc. I guess they say too much about perhaps their upbringing, their class, social status, the time it was shot, etc. I prefer to photograph evidence of people, for example a photograph of someone's front yard says a whole lot to me about who they are as a person, or as a family. It would kind of ruin it for me if I were to actually put the people in the shot.

ME:I KNOW THAT YOU ARE A MUSIC FAN AND YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR "RIP IT UP" MAGAZINE, IS THERE YOUR FAVOURITE AREA OF COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY?

CONOR CLARKE:Like I said earlier...the music thing is something I just fell into. I do enjoy it, and meeting lots of interesting people is pretty great. I guess the problem always comes back to the fact that there's not a lot of money floating around in the music industry so you end up working very cheaply. You do it for the love, and for the learning experience more than anything. My fav. area though is anything portrait. I love shoots that have an idea, theme or narrative involved, otherwise it's just a photo.