I took Daphne Nabors on a field trip to the Fondren Beverage Emporium to see what kind of soda this local photographer would pick out and how that would that might give me insight to her artistic psyche. She picked out a Sprecher Brewery Ginger Ale. Her choice is much like her work—refined, unique, curious and experimental. Nabors' day job is at Jasper Ewing & Sons photo lab, and she impressed upon me how flexible they are to support her desire to pursue photography on the side.
What sparked your passion for photography?
My mother worked as a photographer for the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State when I was little, and I hated kindergarten, and sometimes she would give in and take me to work with her. That was my first darkroom experience. To this day, the smell of black-and-white chemicals takes me back to that time with my mama. The people in my family are painters, so that's what I considered "art." In high school, my friend showed me her book of Man Ray photographs, and that was when I first looked at photography as an "artistic" medium.
What are your favorite camera and lens?
That depends on what I'm going for. If I'm shooting documentary style and there's a lot of action that I've got to catch, then I use my Canon EOS because it is my only auto-focus camera. If I have the time to manually focus, I prefer my Pentax P30T. I usually use both of those simultaneously when covering weddings and parties. I also have a fisheye lens for the Pentax, which I love to use whenever I can get a good shot with it. Just for fun, I like my Holga (cheap plastic 120mm camera) and my Lomo Colorsplash camera, which has won me over for shooting live music. I've been enjoying using an old Polaroid Land camera to make Polaroid transfers and lifts straight from the camera. It's fun because it's somewhat unpredictable and challenging. Someone sat on it a few months back, and the hardware holding the bellows broke off. Now I have to try and stretch the bellows out by hand and still not shake the camera too much while making sure the bellows doesn't sag too much and block out the subject! It results in a lot of wasted film, but when I get a good shot there's an amazing sense of accomplishment— and the messed-up bellows sometimes makes a nice "shadow" effect around the edges. I also plan to get back into pinhole photography soon by building different pinhole cameras and seeing what I can get from those.
Are you partial to any particular filter processes for your film?
Again, it depends on what I'm going for, but I do often find myself using a polarizing filter for outdoor daylight shots. When shooting black and white, I enjoy using a red filter for high contrast, when appropriate.
What commercial work or commissioned projects have you done, and what was your favorite?
I honestly enjoy every opportunity to work in this field. If pressed, I'd have to say the fashion work has been my favorite. I would love to pursue fashion photography! I have also been working on slides for artists that are used for competitions, shows or in their portfolios.
You are a musician—what instrument(s) do you play? Are your music and your photography interrelated?
Well, in the Overnight Lows, I play bass, and in the Party Dots, I play drums. As far as that and my photography being interrelated, I'd have to say I've never really thought about it that way before, but I did begin playing bass and pursuing photography around the same time. I probably do have a similar sort of approach toward both—ignoring conventional wisdom if you're feeling bound by it, and going about things the way they make sense to you. Then hammering out the details 'til you've got it nailed!
If you could study or work under one photographer (dead or alive), who would it be?
In the "dead" category, I would definitely say Man Ray, of course. In the land of the living, I think it would be cool to see Cindy Sherman in action.
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