Joe Schmelzer | 'Life With Nick' in Virtual Display

NICK AT POOL, HIGHLAND PARK, CA, 2021.

How do we redefine the modern muse? Joe Schmelzer  seeks to explore this question in  Life With Nick, a strikingly romantic array of works that focus on the photographer's partner of 11 years, Nick Berry, and the travels they have taken together. Exhibiting virtually, Life With Nick will display in an international showcase of fine art and contemporary photographers. This showcase will be on view at Harbinger LA and The Inaugural Photo Independent Virtual Fair which exists through Photo Independent‘s forum; an exclusive platform that fosters the connection between creatives and their love of photography. Delving into unmapped territory for this editorial and commercial photographer,  this series unlocks the heart of the man behind the lens, and introduces the viewer into the intimacy of relationships. 

NICK ON TOES IN THE BATHROOM, WAIALUA, OAHU, 2020.

How did you first find your affinity for photography? 

Joe: Photography, well, my father owned a small advertising agency, and so I was surrounded by art and photography all my life. But I think also a turning point, was one summer in middle school. I hated camp, so I took a summer school class in photography, and instantly fell in love. Old school, black and white film, and too many hours in the darkroom. Basically from that moment on, I had chosen my life path, and it never changed. I ended up going to Rochester Institute of Technology for my BFA in Photography, moving to NYC to work for some world-renowned photographers (such as Mary Ellen Mark), and then off to CA (CalArts) to earn by MFA also in photography. It was when I finished CalArts (1999)—or maybe slightly before, that Flaunt gave me my first professional photo assignment for a magazine.

BENT OVER NICK WITH TOWELS, WAIALUA, OAHU, 2020.

What inspired Life With Nick? Was there a particular moment or experience that sparked the series? 

Joe: There was no particular moment or experience. I met Nick in 2011, and I was already a working photographer (and he worked in TV production, then at ABC, and now Senior Digital Producer for Americas’s Got Talent). I always took pictures (outside of my assignment work) - and worked on personal photographic projects. My personal work has always been a sort of diary or narrative of my life. So, with the addition of Nick to my life - he just became part of that process. I think over the years the work has morphed, and it is at times very Nick focused. I mean I spend my life with him, I love him, and he has definitely become my muse. While every image that I choose to show tells a story, when you compare them over time, things get very interesting to me. They tell me stories of our relationship, and help me understand the world around me.

DIPTYCH, NICK, WAIALUA, OAHU, 2020.

What might nudity mean to you as an artist?

Joe: This is a tough one. Quite often some of my photos do evolve to some sort of nudity. (although I choose not to show all of these images). I just look at the nudity as “natural.” This is what is happening now, and I document it. My work is never about “eye candy” or “shock value.” While, yes, Nick can be a thing of beauty, I do not make the work to “show him off to others,” or as Instagram clickbait. As mentioned, I am depicting our life, whether at home, traveling, or anything in between. It serves to me as a document of that time of our life.

Nick: I think nudity tends to over-sexualized especially here in the U.S. which is unfortunate, the Life With Nick series is just that, from the mundane of home life to a rocky breathtaking cliff in Big Sur. It’s just kind of a reality show of all the adventures and everyday life dressed or undressed as told through a photographic lens. Also a hero of mine, Moira Rose once said “Take a thousand naked pictures of yourself now.” 

NICK BY BED, NORTH SHORE, OAHU, 2021.

How can you describe the process of your photography? Is it staged, candid?

Joe: My work is as natural as it can be. It is not staged (I mean maybe sometimes I see something and go back to a location or situation) - but it is rather candid. I do not tell Nick what to do. I normally just have my camera, and if the moment is right, pictures get taken. Sometimes the pictures don’t happen, and all we have is the memory. The process is rather collaborative though. I feel you sense and see mood through the images. Of course I have a story behind every photo, and that isnt the same story the viewer may get (and this is fine, as long as someone gets some feeling from the imagery).

Nick: It’s all candid. My attention span burns out after about 30 seconds, so I def thwart the process, but I feel like it works better that way.

NICK, SANDY BUTT, NORTH SHORE, KE IKI BEACH, OAHU, 2021.

You have said in prior interviews that this series is a way for you to chronicle your relationship, how does your partner feel about this series?

Nick: Honestly, I’m just waiting on the book. I kind of look forward to it as kind of a yearbook, it’s nice to have a repertoire of artistic portraits since I was 22, and to see the changes, though it is shocking to see I don’t look as young as I feel. It’ll be a lovely time capsule of images to see.

NICK, POUNDERS BEACH, OAHU. 2021.

What stereotypes do you feel you break down in this series? 

Joe: I feel like every time I answer this question, I think it is timely. I wrote about this before gay marriage was legal, and now we are right back to having that discussion again in this political climate. I have been lucky to live in NYC and Los Angeles, where being gay, and being in a relationship is so “normal” and “out in the open.” But I think a lot of these issues exist still today in the majority of the country. I want to break down the idea of a loving gay relationship, as not being very different than any other relationship. There is love. There are good days and bad days. There are exciting days and boring days. But, in the end, all of the days are ok. I mean as dorky as it sounds, its Love is Love. And if I give you a glimpse into our world, maybe others can appreciate, follow, and even better, feel ok about themselves to be the same way. 

Nick: I don’t know if we’re breaking down or living up to a stereotype, but in the end, it’s just real and raw and us living our lives captured through a lens.

NICK AT BATHROOM WINDOW, WAIALUA, OAHU, 2020.

NICK, LOOKING OUT THE DOOR- HALEIWA, OAHU, HAWAII, JULY 2022.