Expose Me!

Wigs by Nikki.Nicole

 Nikki Durling Abernathy submitted this image on our facebook for Fantastic Photo Friday and it really grabbed the attention of our judges. Self described as an amateur photographer, Nikki was happy to share her photo story with us…

Hi! I’m Nikki. I’m a 33-year-old Florida girl, a wife, a mother and a graduate
student. I am currently pursuing my Masters in Historic Preservation. I consider
myself an amateur photographer. I am leaving May 19th to go to a tiny town in Italy
for two and half months for a graduate internship. I will be restoring an old church
and learning the conservation and preservation of anything paper related. I am
excited and of course sad to leave my family behind, but it will be a career changer.

Why and when did you become interested in photography?

I first started becoming interested in photography when I was a teenager and
stumbled upon my mom’s old, 1970s Canon camera. I took off after that. I
thoroughly believed that I was going to be the next big fashion photographer. I
would purchase crazy outfits from the thrift stores and make friends dress-up and take
their pictures. I entered a photo of my best friend without her knowing it in a state
art competition. Her mother happened to be there looking at art and stumbled
across the photo of her daughter. She called my friend to tell her that not only is her
picture on display, but it actually won first place.

What is your biggest source of inspiration?

I find sources of inspiration everywhere. I feel as though I have a photographer’s
eye. I don’t use Photoshop. The only editing my images get is through iphoto and
picnik. My husband is often wondering why in the hell I’m taking a picture of such
and such. He is not an artist.

The photo of the wigs in the window was taken in Savannah, Georgia. We were just
walking by and it seemed like such a surreal moment. To get that exact photo, I
cropped it in iphoto and used picnik’s infrared to make it black & white. To me, it is
such a statement photo. Here I was, window-shopping and they were looking right
back at me.

Be sure and visit Nikki’s blog and etsy site to view more of her work. Nikki is now qualified to win this months Fantastic Photo Friday monthly website giveaway…If chosen, she has decided on “Emma” for her template. We look forward to hearing more from Nikki after her trip to Italy. Ciao!