Artist Profile: Local photographer Greg Nikas takes stunning pictures of the beautiful landscape that surrounds us here in Newburyport. We were pleased to interview him for our continuing profile series and happy to be able to share some samples of his beautiful photography.
1. How long have you been a photographer and what originally drew you to the profession?
I’ve been a professional photographer for over 25 years, but have been involved in photography since I was a junior in high school. That was 1968. I took my first picture with a green Kodak Brownie camera that used 120 b&w film. The art teacher at Ipswich High started a photo class, and our darkroom was in a closet in the library without running water. We had to run back and fourth to the boys room for water. One day, we went on a photo trip to the local cemetery, and the first photo I took was of the reflection of a classmate in a highly polished grave stone. The teacher liked it so much, she had it published on the front page of the local newspaper, and I’ve been taking pictures ever since. The big turning point was when my parents gave me a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic for graduation, and I stated photographing the landscapes of Ipswich. Within a few years, I was shooting in B&W and using the Zone system created by Ansel Adams. My interest in the landscape grew, and now the majority of my landscapes are in color and mostly in the panoramic format. All my landscapes are printed on Somerset, 100% cotton rag, acid free paper with pigmented inks.
2. How do you manage to elicit such emotion out of your landscapes? Being inanimate this must be quite challenging.
As an emotional, visual person, I love nature, and being outside. I’m fascinated by all the colors and shapes, the weather and especially the light. When I’m out, I’m as excited as a kid in a candy shop. I’m always aware of my surroundings, how the light is falling on a scene, the colors or lack of color, the subtle or the dramatic nature of the scene. But, as beautiful as a scene may be, I won’t photograph it unless it really speaks to me. I have to experience a physical, emotional reaction. It’s a feeling that starts deep inside me, my heart rate picks up a bit, I get excited, and I find myself standing there amazed at what I’m looking at. That’s when I know I have a photograph. The challenge is knowing how to capture that scene, and translating it to paper to do it justice and present it so people can see what I saw. Which, by the way, is where all my enjoyment from photography comes from. Watching the reaction of people viewing my photographs for the fist time is a great feeling, and very satisfying.
3. Normally when you see landscape depictions, they are very monochromatic, how do you manage to capture such vibrant color variations?
The best time for strong vibrant colors is in the early morning, and late evening. When the sun is low on the horizon, the light has to travel the greatest distance from the sun to you, and through large amounts of Oxygen and Nitrogen (the main ingredients of our atmosphere) which scatter violet and blue light. Therefore, the light that we see at sunrise and sunset is mostly of the longer wavelengths of the red spectrum. We all love the colors of sunrise and sunset, and those are my favorite times of day to shoot. Besides, there are hardly any other people around at that time of day, so it’s like you have all that beauty to yourself, and maybe a loved one who came along, which adds to the romantic nature of sunrises and sunsets.
4. What about living and working in Newburyport fuels your work artistically?
Aesthetically, Newburyport is one of the most beautiful and inspiring places I’ve lived. From Plum Island to Maudslay, the landscape is very diverse. Some of the most dramatic photographs on display in my gallery were taken on Plum Island at the mouth of the Merrimac River, in Maudslay after a snow storm, and at the boat ramp on Joppa Flats. I’ve photographed in all the seasons, and have never been at a loss for beautiful scenery to photograph. It’s just a matter of being outside with my eyes open, Newburyport is that beautiful!
