NIC NICHOLS When we were admiring the Eastern State Penitentiary photoshoot we just knew that it was great to know more about the work and the artist. We hope you enjoy the interview as much as we've enjoyed. Tops.
Nuno Soares/ Cristina Correia
17.03.2007
A photographer for over 20 years, Nic Nichols currently resides in Delaware, on the East Coast of the United States. After some time at Rhode Island School of Design, he left for the Art Institute of Philadelphia, where under the direction of Robert Crites, was introduced to the Diana Camera. Upon Graduation, he contuided post graduate studies at the University of Delaware with Professor John Weiss. Nic started his online portfolio, nicnichols.com in 1998 to share his images with the world, and has since been published in collectives and magazines throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.
NEOZINE* - There's this ideal colour in your work. It is interesting to see how it has changed, does it correspond to how you see things or there is a creative and imaginative process between the real and the sensations and feelings for the element shot?
NIC - One of reason that I choose a Holga for most of my work, is that the resulting images have a certain unpredictability that cannot come from digital manipulation. I also buy bulk lots of old, expired film- so colors will vary, the contrast will change, light will leak through and alter the color of the image.. I try to limit any post production or Photoshop work to as little as possible. I firmly believe that if you need to add gimmicks or filters to your work, then your work wasn’t that good to begin with. My image creation happens in the camera; from the light leaks or tired old film, and sometimes from cross-processing techniques as well- to get the desired response out of the image. I like the raw, gritty, visceral feel of the work I create. I think it reflects the simple sentiment that is inherent in the things I document through my photography.
NEOZINE* - One can sense grids in your work, sometimes the nature or architectural elements help to create the composition but the moment is not lost which is a remarkable characteristic of your work. How have you achieved it??
NIC - I wrote a paper while at Rhode Island School of Design about the manner in which each person finds order in chaos. It explained that in my mind, I saw all things as shapes and colors, my mind broke everything down to the basic elements. Try as I could, my mind, and therefore my eye, would always group these elements in patterns. Every person, whether they realize it or not, will make order from chaos- arranging your desk, the way you fold your laundry- even the way you put your groceries away. There are patterns to everything, and I cannot escape them in my work. Weight, color, shape, size, all things balance themselves when I look through the viewfinder- a blessing or a curse, I think it creates a common balance throughout my work.
NEOZINE* - The Pic #4 at the Penitentiary shoot with the cats is poetically strange. Cats feel real, but they are not. It has got a quite magical atmosphere. What was the main idea behind it?
NIC - When Eastern State Penitentiary was abandoned in 1971, a gentleman named Dan McClould came several times a week to care for the 40 or so stray cats that had made the complex their home. Linda Brenner, a sculptor, made 39 cement cats, and placed them around the prison to represent both the animals and their caregiver. While documenting the Prison, they seemed to follow me everywhere that I went, and when I put my bag on the ground to change film, it was almost as if they came up to watch me… I took a few photographs, and that image resulted is one of personal favorites. It represents the survivors, and those who cared for them.
NEOZINE* - The strange "Impaled Teddy Bears" has got dual sensations, the artificial fur feels real in nature and nature lends new sensations to the bears and at the same time... sadness flows. Could you describe the purpose of this particular work?
NIC - While driving through rural Maryland, I came across a teddy bear nailed to a tree by the side of the road. When I looked closer, there were several more in the trees nearby, the fur and stuffing decaying slowly over time. I climbed through the brush, and photographed for a while with my Holga and Mamiya 6mf. The images were both haunting and puzzling- why were there bears and other stuffed animals there? On return trips, there were even more, and the first bear had now almost completely decayed. The real story however, unfolded a few months after I posted the images online. Mr. Flick, the owner of the farm, had found a teddy bear on his property, and thinking that a child must have lost it, he placed it on the tree by the road. Apparently, a stuffed animal by the side of the road is also a sign that a child was killed at that location, so others continued to place various stuffed animals there in effigy. Nobody ever came back for the first bear, so in a way the forest became an effigy to it, a lost bear alone in the forest.
NEOZINE* - The entire work has got an idea of whole behind it, a purpose, a direction. Sometimes abstract, but always quite poetic. Does your work lead you or you have the notion of where you want to be and what you want to work in the future.
NIC - I want to document the world. Every last bit of it. Not just the good times, not just the beautiful places, but the real, true world. Is that a farm in middle America? Is it the view from the Empire State Building? Or is it a family simply enjoying a meal together. It’s all part of our life. Everyday, I see things completely unexpected that inspire me, that might be overlooked or ignored by most. I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the deconstructed world and the interesting and colorful characters that occupy it.
Certain days I will just load the car up with equipment and drive. My fiancé Kristen Hudson is an amazing location scout, and is always coming up with new locations. Somedays I have a location already decided, and prepare just for that. Spending months at Eastern State Penitentiary helped me realize that there thousands of buildings with rich histories that I have yet to come across, and I hope that when I get there I can capture some part of the essence of the site.
As for the future, I go where the camera takes me. The holga is always loaded, there is always film in the fridge. We have plans to travel around Europe again later this year. We have discovered several other abandoned prisons, insane asylums, old civil war forts.. its going to be a great year. And as long as I can continue documenting my travels, its going to be a great life.
NIC NICHOLS 
