What an honor to have the amazing Miss Aniela here with us answering our 6 (OK, actually 8) questions.
If you didn't know already, Natalie Dybisz is the brain and body behind the Flickr-famed Miss Aniela brand. Natalie is an extremely young and talented self-portrait photographer who, within the first six months of sharing her images and composites on the online photo sharing site, received more than one million views. Soon after, her Flickr popularity landed her on the cover of American PHOTO magazine and led to several international exhibitions, frequent speaking engagements with prominent names like Microsoft, and interest from book publishers and documentary producers. Natalie just launched her new liveBooks site and her images can be seen at www.missaniela.com.
I'm sure you'll all be as excited and inspired as we are with her answers!
What's the story behind this photo?
This image was shot in my living room. It is a composite, made from several shots, to create the illusion that I am floating along with an array of other objects. The objects were suspended by fishing wire, and in post-production I ‘hid’ my partner who was holding me in the air during a ten-second-timer dash.
I wanted to convey the idea of anxiety and disorientation. Partly inspired by Poltergeist, I wanted a chaotic scene where everything is not quite what it seems, where I am lost amidst everyday objects that have started to take on a life of their own. I wanted to convey an irrational fear connected with the anxiety syndrome, but do so in a way that was interesting, colourful and surreal.
What was it that lit your photography spark? Do you remember a particular camera, course, person, roll of film?
The appeal of taking images instantly and costlessly with a digital camera first motivated me to start, and the possibilities of post-production gave me further artistic excitement. Certain images I have taken have kept me aware of what my ‘spark’ is, and help me keep going. These images include ‘South by southeast,’ ‘Life on the downs’, ‘The aura’, and ‘The smothering’.
What's your photo philosophy? Does it reflect your life philosophy?
Yes, I think it does. I often find myself thinking that the thing we should all strive to be is genuine and honest, which will in turn lead to us being authentic and original. With art, I like to see artists try to express something truthful, from their own heart, without trying to emulate others to fit in. By constantly chasing their own (doubtlessly changing) self-truth, they will keep producing work that is real, engaging, and authentic. It might be only a ‘remix’ of what we have seen before, but it will endlessly and energetically keep ‘remixing’, which is in the nature of all art.
Where do you look for inspiration?
Lots of things inspire me, from films to paintings, to weird dreams I have, and memories of childhood. I have also been inspired by other self-portraitists on Flickr such as Bogna Kuczerawy and Rosie Hardy.
I browse other people’s work to get inspiration, but the ideas will come in slowly like particles of gathering dust in my brain, till the day I finally tackle the wealth of accumulated ideas and blow into the dust – hopefully for it to land and settle in a unique way again.
What would you say is one of your 'signature' editing tricks, themes or style? What do you think makes an image recognizable and uniquely yours?
People would remark on my ‘clone’ or ‘multiplicity’ images, such as ‘The escape’, where there is more than one of me in the frame. However, this is not my unique idea, just a technique I like to use. They might also comment on my other uses of manipulation such as my ‘trick’ images where I float, fly or levitate, which again, is merely a technique. I would say that I am happiest when I capture a form of ‘shape’ within the picture, whether straight-out-of-cam, or through compositing in Photoshop, where there is a distinct form throughout the frame that pleases the eye, such as in ‘The adjustment’. It is hard to scrutinise one’s own ‘style’ or even know whether it exists, but I have been told that I use quite a bold colour palette. The work I most enjoy creating is that which appears eye-catching and dramatic, but not overpushed, ie. an image must have something already captured within it to be enhanced in Photoshop, but that ‘something’ might well come out when images are combined in the post-production.
What aspect of your photography are you constantly working on, trying to improve?
I would say lighting. Lighting is crucial for all good photos. I think my best photos to date are those which have used lighting well, but having always used natural lighting, I might not have know exactly how it’s been achieved. I am trying to learn how to harness light more in the way I want. I have dabbled with studio lighting but am not yet sure what role it can play for me, as I have been told there is something about the ‘uneven’ quality of natural lighting in my work that makes it succeed. I am trying to find a middle ground between the controlled expertise of professional lighting, and the exciting wanton quality of illumination from natural sources.
Are there women out there that you consider your shutter sisters? Who, and why?
Probably the community of female self-portraitists on Flickr, namely the Female Self-Portrait Artists’ Support Group.
It’s a large group now, but it’s still a great place to discuss lots of issues both photography and non-photography related, with likeminded women exploring the medium for self-expression.
Thank you Natalie for sharing with us!
To take in more of Natalie's photographic magic, visit her website or her blog. And of course, you'll find her on Flickr as the ever-popular Miss Aniela.
Saturday, September 11, 2010 by 
