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Life and Work with Christy Dickinson-Davis

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Christy Dickinson-Davis.

Christy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m a portrait and wedding photographer, as well as a fine art conceptual photography artist. I live in Old Colorado City, one of the historic districts of Colorado Springs with my husband, two sons, three cats, a dog and one guinea pig.

My dad was the one who started my love for photography. We had a darkroom in our attic where I would sit on a stool and watch my dad develop black and white photos when I was little. He taught me how to manually shoot film, frame a shot, develop prints and appreciate captures of cracks in the sidewalk. My sister always says she thinks I see the world through my lens the way our dad did.

I grew up in Oklahoma but moved with my husband in 1994 to Denver so I could attend the University of Denver. After a couple of semesters at DU, I transferred to Metro State to major in Art History and that is when my spark for photography was reignited and my love for art took root. I did a dreamscape series for a photography assignment at Metro about my mother who passed away when I was pregnant with my first son. I had recurring dreams of her in flowing fabric peeking into my infant son’s crib or rocking him, her face was never recognizable but I always knew it was her. It sounds quite creepy, but it was hauntingly beautiful and comforting for me. One of my incredibly adventurous best friends donned sheer fabric curtain panels and posed for me in the freezing garage of my house in Golden to help me recreate my dreams. While shooting that project (with old school film) I became obsessed with photographing the flow of sheer fabric, there was something so lovely about it.

After college, I owned and operated a natural soap company, we moved to Manitou Springs, had another son and ended up buying an old Victorian and setting down roots in Colorado Springs. Digital photography by this time was the norm and I went into the digital realm kicking and screaming. It was intimidating, it was not the photography I knew so well. Then one Christmas came the Canon point and shoot camera my husband bought me. I had no idea how to use it or make it shoot manually like my old film cameras. I read the complete manual and figured out how to manipulate the settings to work kind of like a film camera. For about a year, I used it to photograph whatever I came across, mostly my kids and cracks in the sidewalk (thanks dad). I posted the photos on social media and people began to ask me if I would photograph their family photos. I was flattered but it terrified me to say the least so I always declined. Eventually, one of my girlfriends pretty much forced me to do some photos for her Christmas card and that was the beginning of my photography career in earnest. It was the boost I needed to start pursuing photography as a career. I closed my soap company, bought the cheapest DSLR I could get (an older Canon Rebel), and I just went for it. I’d only ever really done film photography so Photoshop was like a foreign language to me. I sat down every day for about six months and literally went back to college, teaching myself any and every Photoshop tutorial I could find on the internet. I also had to teach myself about digital cameras and the differences in film and digital camera functions. After I felt comfortable with what I knew, I started booking clients. This leads to another one of my dear girlfriends again forcing me to step out of my comfort zone to shoot my first wedding. I resisted and resisted, but in the end she won me over and that was the beginning of my wedding photography.

At first, I really did feel like I was flying by the seat of my pants. At some point though, you just have to jump off the ledge of fear into the unknown and carry on, so that’s what I did. I still use fear as a great motivator to push me in new directions artistically. As the years have gone by I’ve grown by leaps and bounds into a confident and imaginative female photographer.

My art history background has come into play very deeply with my portraiture and conceptual photography. I love to tell a story with my fine art photography, I want people to think there’s something going on here. I want them to ask, “what is the story?” I sketch out ideas constantly (my husband makes fun of my stick figure sketches), if I don’t draw it out I’ll definitely forget. Anything can spark my imagination for photo ideas, but I do get a lot from period films and series. I’ll see something and pause and rewind, and pause and rewind…it could be the way a character is standing, running, holding her head, a light ray, a color palette, or the movement of fabric (yes, I still rely on that old obsession of mine with flowing sheer fabric). I also draw heavily from paintings, I can stare at the fabric in golden age and renaissance paintings for hours. And to this day for my conceptual work, I still draw a lot of my inspiration and composition from those dreams about my mother, flowing fabric and faceless figures.

I’ve been working on a conceptual series for a solo exhibit next summer called “In The Box.” With the help of my husband and friends who kindly listened to me ramble on about it for a couple of years, I actually saw it come to fruition last summer. We built a 12×12 wooden open-faced box in my backyard. I kind of sort of created a painter’s studio from the Golden Age of painting. When constructing the box, I drew a lot from the Dutch masters, particularly Vermeer. I’ve always been intrigued by Vermeer’s work that he painted in his studio with the single square-paned window, typically one subject doing mundane things, the light with the perspective of looking in on a scene, a story. So, I set about creating photographs inspired by the studios and lighting in paintings from the Golden Age, with my own twist of surreal dreamscape in some of them. I love creating this kind of work, it fascinates me.

Throughout this whole journey so far there are two repeating patterns. One is the unwavering support from my husband who never bats an eyelash when I ask him odd questions for photo ideas. The other is the women in my life who lifted me up and forced me to shoot portraits and weddings when I was too afraid I would fail. I have fallen and failed, but it’s the times I fail that make me even more determined to succeed. I started with a small cheap camera and pushed my way through all of the obstacles to where I am now.

I wish my dad were still here, I like to think he would have been super stoked about what I’ve done and where I continue to go.

Has it been a smooth road?
I definitely doubted myself many times on the road to where I am now, and still do. In the beginning, I was scared to take work outside of my comfort zone, like weddings. I think you just have to go for it and use that fear to fuel you forward. People will tell you no, or they don’t like your work or the way you’ve done something, and that’s fine because for every one of those people there are so, so many more that will tell you they love your work and what you do. Don’t let the bad apples spoil your self-worth and determination.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Dickinson-Davis Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I’m a photographer who specializes in unique portraiture, weddings and fine art conceptual photography. I think what I’ve become known for is my Colorado scenic portraiture and out of the ordinary portraits (like the family I dressed in pristine white then had them get into an epic mud fight). I definitely do standard family portrait and wedding photography which is quite fun and my everyday job, but I’m also an artist creating conceptual photography as well. My work has been described as whimsical, magical, poetic and ethereal. I think that’s what sets me apart from other photographers, I create a story through my lens. I’m quite proud that an image of mine from a family portrait session was selected by National Geographic for their photography book “Getting Your Shot”, which appeared on the cover and featured inside. In 2016 I photographed my first destination wedding in Santorini, Greece. I love that my work has afforded me the opportunity to travel the world, but my favorite places to shoot are right here in Colorado. Based on my portfolio I was selected to be a guest photographer on stage with Matisyahu, that was pretty surreal for sure. I’m also very proud of the conceptual series I’ve been working on this past year, for a solo exhibit in 2021.

Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
In photography, I think it’s a woman’s game right now. We are more prevalent than ever before in photography. To name a few, pioneering women photographers like Dorthea Lange, Julia Margaret Cameron, and more recently Annie Leibovitz who pushed their way into what was pretty much a male-dominated profession, paved the way for women photographers like me today. I think women make great photographers, we see things differently. We’re still a low percentage in the field, but give us time…we’ll get there.

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All the images provided have been created by me, Christy Dickinson-Davis

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