We recently connected with Rebecca Culbreth and have shared our conversation below.

Rebecca, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think photography has always been my constant, even before I was aware that this is what I would be doing with most of my time. The way I relate to it most is as a way of seeing, being in the world, and generating creativity more than anything else. I noticed this as soon as I picked up a camera in high school; that it made me notice the world around me in a different way. It heightened my senses and gave me an awareness and mindfulness to what was around me. There was a turning point professionally when I had a jewelry store and was learning silversmithing. As I was gaining more technical skills in that area I had this emerging feeling that photography was what I really wanted to do. Prior to that I was working in wildlife rehabilitation and I would sometimes try and create these scenarios with the squirrels for a photograph. Ive definitely moved away from that style but it was pretty fun and part of me wants to come full circle and have some squirrels crawling on one of my models one day.

Rebecca, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Photography and art in general are things that I am always having to learn and relearn and evolve with. In addition to other photographers that I am moved by; the passage of time, experience, and gaining discretion have been great teachers. Things that I thought were interesting 15 years ago have shifted; what I consider a good photograph is always being refined. This is not to say everything I like is really technically noteworthy or even meaningful in the sense of a story or subject-it may just be about the colors sometimes. However, I am working more now to express story and emotion in my own work because when it all comes together its a beautiful thing. But I think the main thing I’ve noticed with myself is moving away from an initial focus of merely representing or documenting a scene to having that shift into building something new, revealing what is hidden, or trying to create something i’ve seen in a dream, felt subconsciously, or what I move towards in a flow state. I’ve developed my understanding of photography through college courses, workshops, reading, online courses like Creative Live and most frequently; googling as needed. I have a different way of learning and remembering that sometimes make things challenging and puts me at odds with my equipment. If I don’t do something frequently enough I need to go back and relearn things. So knowing that in advance reminds me to keep going back, keep planing, keep learning, and also being ok with not being the most technical photographer in the room.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Lately i’ve been working to split the difference between a photoshoot that requires location scouting, costumes, props, posing, etc. and then almost going in the direction of cinema verite-using improvisation and spontaneity to unveil hidden truths and emotion in a raw unplanned way. I guess the trick is that it’s not actually unplanned; but that you have set up a situation where art can emerge in line with the vision you are trying to coerce. I have not really succeeded in this yet. Over the years i’ve taken a lot of inspiration from movies. When I was younger I remember being in awe of the pollen flying in those scenes of Legend (1986) and today I still love that and wonder if Ridley Scotts’ set design team used small feathers and a fan. I will see a movie like Tarkovsky’s Andrei Roublev, particularly those scenes with flaming torches in the field that I think are really magical and I’d love to bring that kind of thing into my work. Movies like Kurosawa’s Dreams and Bergmans Persona (among their other films) are inpirational. I recently tried to recreate some Persona poses (I think half of all photographers do this at some point lol) but we were cold and did not totally nail it. I need to try that again or maybe go the ABBA (mama mia) route since I love the 70’s. I also love it and am inspired when something unexpectedly beautiful happens or when beauty is juxtaposed with its opposite like that sunset scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original)

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I was walking around San Francisco yesterday and its a nice example of a creative ecosystem. I went to the Harvey Milk Photo Center and it just seemed like a great communal space to work on your craft, take courses, and be around other photographers. I love all the open studio events the bay area has and the different neighborhoods that have strings of galleries, art openings, art walks and lectures. I think visibility and opportunity are two big things-being in an environment where you can see art (especially when it is free and open to everyone) and opportunity in terms of workshops, colleges, and art shows. To see that it is a possible way of living by seeing art in your neighborhood coffee shop or gallery in town I think fosters the idea that this can be done and is not something exclusive to just a few people.

Contact Info:

• Website: rebeccaculbreth.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/rebecca.rae.c
• Facebook: facebook.com/rebeccaculbreth

Image Credits
The picture of me for the profile is shot by Shasta McBride.