Who is Stephanie?
A tall, curly-haired nerd with a whole lot of cameras and unsubstantiated worries; a girl who loves the outdoors, lazing about, wearing jeans, cooking, and traveling.
As an Artist, what are your favorite ways to express yourself?
I’d love to be able to draw, or paint what I see, but since I’m better with a camera, photography is my thing. I shoot with toy, vintage, and Polaroid cameras mostly. I do enjoy drawing and painting though, but don’t often have the patience.
When did you ‘know’ you were an artist?
I have a tough time referring to myself as an artist; I even work as a photographer and I have a hard time calling myself one. When I was a kid, whenever anyone would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, without hesitation I’d respond “an artist”, but I apparently held artists in a different esteem. Back then it either seemed much more glamorous and high-paying, or difficult and gritty. I guess what I didn’t realize is that being an artist is just a normal, day-to-day job, one with ups and downs, fun times and hard work, lunch breaks, and meetings. Artist or not, I’m having a really good time doing whatever it is I do.
What are you moved to express in your art?
Pretty subjects I find in the outdoors. I love being outside and my job requires me to be in the mountains and forests so I feel very lucky to be able to shoot my favorite things any given day.
How do you handle an interruption in the flow of imagination or writer’s block?
I have to write a lot for work and I definitely get writer’s block often. I end up blog-stalking or sitting in my cozy firecracker-red chair in the front room with my legs up over the arm, staring out the windows. I’ll waste an hour or so then force myself to get back on track. Luckily my work writings don’t require much creativity, just a lot of research, so it’s as simple as turning on some music and getting my head back in the game. If I’m writing for myself, I’ll procrastinate for days then when the time comes to write, I’ll sit down at the keyboard and just spit it all out with random sentences here and there, mish-mashed, out of order, all over the place, and then comes the editing – my favorite part. I think I unconsciously and purposely jot everything down out of order just so I can edit!
In my photography, the only time I’ve suffered from a block of sorts was when I was working for another photographer. I’d work on his photos all day long and I had no desire to pick up my own cameras once I got home. It was a tough time for me and one that I was ecstatic to walk away from. As soon as I left that horrible job, I got back into the swing of things and have been shooting without pause ever since.
What brings you joy, contentment, happiness?
My husband, our marriage, and the home we’ve made together. It’s all better than I ever imagined a marriage would be and after 12 years together, I still can’t wipe the smile from my face when I think of him; also (and perhaps less mushy) my sweet nieces and nephews, a beautiful photograph, a successful dinner party, our growing garden, a crisp fall day, pretty light, Pie Sundays with our neighbor friends, a road trip, live music, banjos, sandals, and snowflakes. And ice cream. Never underestimate the happiness contained in a single scoop dolloped onto a fresh cone.
How has saying ‘yes’ in your life shaped your path?
Surprisingly, the “horrible job” I had when I worked for the other photographer was one of the times I said “yes”. I left my steady, full-time, good-paying government job that I’d held for almost 10 years to work in the spider-filled basement of this guy’s house, editing his photos, answering his phone, filling his camper propane tank, picking up his dry cleaning, and getting his ski boot fixed (humiliating experiences!) for half the pay and half the hours, yet being brave enough to venture out on my own got me to this comfortable place I am today.
What holds you back?
The fear of falling before I’ve even gotten off the ground.
Who are your creative role models? What books, art or music inspire and ignite you?
I am a Flickr junkie and find so much inspiration there. I browse my contacts’ photos whenever I’ve got the time and am continually wowed. I adore magazines too (Sunset, Everyday Food, Bon Appetit, Coastal Living, Real Simple, Backpacker…) I love the design/layout of these publications and the photography is always so pleasing. I’ve been reading Sunset since I was 10 and I’ve always just loved it. I read it cover-to-cover and never peek ahead. I am giddy when a new issue hits the mailbox.
I have a love affair with everything West and am fascinated with its literature, but I don’t mean gun-slingin’ cowboy westerns, I mean The West. The deserts, the peaks, the high mountain valleys, the wildlife, flora and fauna, the history. My favorite authors are Terry Tempest Williams, Ivan Doig, Edward Abbey, and Rick Bass. My copy of Abbey’s Desert Solitaire was a constant companion one summer years ago, its pages are still stuffed with pressed wildflowers from White Pine Lake in Northern Utah. It was our first backpacking trip there and the first time I’d finished the book. The pages are dogeared, the cover torn. It’s contents stir my soul.
For music, we listen to a lot of jam bands in our house (we’re closet hippies), from groups like Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, Umphrey’s McGee, Widespread Panic, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals… It’s generally such happy, energetic and lighthearted music that seems to mirror the outdoors. It’s perfect for road trips.
If there were absolutely no obstacles whatsoever, what would you do tomorrow?
We would probably buy ourselves a VW camper bus and travel our brains out.
What is on your wish list?
Polaroid film! I’d settle for more classic 600 or new varieties of beautiful, magical, reliable stuff from The Impossible Project. My stash is dwindling and I flip-flop daily between slowly savoring what’s left or burning through it all in a mad dash. I also am wishing for a new weather-sealed DSLR. It’s very contradictory to my whole “I use film!” mantra, but my current 5-year old, 6MP DSLR is starting to go. My line of work includes a lot of dusty dirt roads which are not friendly to fancy cameras that are not properly zipped away in their dust-free bags. (Oops.) Plus, my iPhone has about the same amount of megapixels. I mean, come on!
What is on your inspiration board?
The lovely Susannah Conway recently said that she has “a terrible affliction” where she’s inspired by everything and is always seeing photographs everywhere she goes. I love how she feels about it and wholeheartedly agree. I told my husband a few months ago that it’s a sickness. I can’t go anywhere without finding inspiration. I do try to contain it occasionally, and have a string of twine stretched above my computer with trinkets and memories attached to it with clothespins. Photobooth strips hang there, inspiring me to get out of town and go visit the friends in them; a greeting card with a canoe and two little oars is there with a beautiful quote by Emerson: “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” inspiring me to get outside and live; a watercolor painting of a mountain sunset that I am still shocked I made; Polaroids from friends, a pipe cleaner necklace from my adorable niece Maggie, a heart-shaped aspen leaf… All of these things remind me of the my loved ones, to keep playing with cameras, to keep trying new things, to love life.
Where is your creative space/corner of the world?
Anywhere outside. That’s where I’m usually inspired to make the photos I do.
Outside of photography, probably the kitchen. I have learned in the last few years that it’s exciting to be creative and experimental there. I’ve really fallen in love with cooking and baking because of that realization and finally actually look forward to coming home from work and throwing something together.
In a paragraph ~ describe yourself/your life in ten years times
Oh gosh. I always love this question because it lets me dream, but I hate it because what if I come back in ten years and I’m embarrassed by what I wrote? (Really, that has happened. I had to write a letter to my 25-year old self when I was 15 for some church lesson and I was so misguided back then. Aside from graduating from college, I was doing nothing I had hoped for myself, and boy was I happy about it. Almost all of my 15-year old dreams would have made me feel like a repressed failure!) Honestly in 10 years, I hope to be doing exactly what I’m doing now: living with my husband in our cozy red brick home with the giant sycamore out front, reaping the shady rewards from the aspens, oaks, and maples we planted out back, enjoying every moment of our lives. I hope to have a little more time to devote to my garden, and I hope I can still get my hands on instant integral film!
Steph Parke is a photographer and writer, and she’s also the supervising editor of Light Leaks, an independent quarterly print magazine dedicated to the art of low fidelity photography. She’s hopelessly addicted to Polaroid and thinks the Matterhorn at Disneyland is the greatest ride ever invented. She’s embarrassed to admit that only yesterday, she ate her first raspberry straight off the plant while sneaking around in her dad’s gorgeous garden. Steph loves being outside and would rather paddle a kayak than drive a car. She lives in Northern Utah with her husband, three kayaks, and 38 cameras.
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Light Leaks Magazine
