One of the greatest things about having this website is that I get introduced to alot of amazing artists that i’ve never come across before. Nicole is just that. I knew nothing about her apart from a brief introduction, so I thought we’d ask her a bunch of quick questions to find out more.
First of all, can you tell us where you live? Have you always lived there?
I live in Fitzroy, Victoria. I’ve lived here for nearly 15 years and I can’t see myself living anywhere else in Australia. I am constantly inspired by the mixture of people and street art here. I grew up in the country in not a very creatively inspiring small town.
How long have you been taking photos for?
I’ve always taken photos, but that small town wasn’t a good environment to foster the passion. I started my career as a Graphic Reproducer and then a high end drum scanner operator. That lead on to retouching and finished art. Then about 7 years ago I started working for a magazine called Tattoos Downunder and the publisher asked if I was interested in taking photos for the magazine. That was it for me, I knew definitely that taking photos is what I wanted to do. I’ve been freelancing now for almost 3 years and share an awesome photography studio in Collingwood (http://www.rokebystudios.com.au/) with some very inspiring photographers.
You’ve managed to snap a lot of quite famous creative people. How do you manage to get these people in front of your camera?
It wasn’t until you mentioned it that I looked through my website and released that 80% of my portraits are of artists of one sort or another! A lot of the portraits are commissioned and I think I have a certain empathy towards how artists feel in front of the camera as I hate getting my photo taken!! A lot of people always comment on how “painless” my shoots are, and I guess word gets around! I do a lot of work for a journal called T-world where I get to photograph a lot of street-wear heavy weights.
How does the environment of these photographs differ to your commercial work?
Oh, a lot of my commercial work is pretty “environment-less”!! I still shoot interiors, product and furniture which is great and sometimes therapeutic, but I’d really like to concentrate on portraits, and specifically environmental portraits. Most of my work is done on location and I prefer not to do know where I am doing a portrait until I turn up, it keeps it spontaneous and I love thinking on the fly.
What can we expect to see from this show?
I have over 20 prints of all different tattooers, mainly from Australia that I have shot in the past and specifically for the exhibition. It’s a good mix of group shots and individuals.
“These Artists”, Nicole Reed’s first exhibition in Brisbane captures in perpetuity a group of artists whose work stands the test of time. Nicole has travelled the world collecting the souls of her favourite Tattoo Artists. This in itself is a rarity as the most often
photographed aspect of this industry is the end result, not the artists themselves.
“These Artists” Opens Wednesday 6th October at 7pm.
Seventh Circle Studios. 890 Stanley St East, East Brisbane
