The Nikon Kidd is kind of extra. It’s a bit much. I’m a pretty lowkey kind of girl and you might be wondering why I picked this name.
Well, I didn’t. It was picked for me!
I started my photographer as a traveler. A “dirty kid.” I hitchhiked, lived in a van, hopped freight trains and played mandolin for money. I got my camera because I wanted to preserve my memories of that way of life and I started going around to the people I met and asking them if I could do a quick interview with them and take their photo. Humans of New York was big at the time and I wanted to be just like Brandon Stanton.
Eventually some of the folks I was traveling with started calling me “Nikon Kidd” after a photographer called “The Polaroid Kid” who hopped trains with a Polaroid a generation before I did. He became a bit of a hero. His photos felt wild and real and unlike anything I had ever seen before. Ever since then, he has been one of my biggest sources of inspiration. We’ve never met, but one day we might.
As for why I haven’t been sued by Nikon yet, I can’t answer. Maybe it’s bad business for camera companies to sue artists?
Anyway, that’s my origin story! For more of my work, be sure to check out my blog!