Nichole Uribe -The Liberated Collection-

When talking about Nichole, it's hard not to talk about Alyssa in the same breath. The two BFF's are conjoined at the hip, and compliment each other seamlessly. They approached me with a grandeur idea of a Sedona excursion, where I'd photograph both of them for their senior portraits. Who can refuse such an offer? But I'll try to keep them separated for the moment.

Nichole's self perception is fairly accurate. She used the word 'hippieish' more than once to describe herself. I can't say I am an expert on this 60's youth movement, because the totality of my knowledge of hippies is solely rooted in Forest Gump. So then you ask, "well does she remind you of Jenny?", and I say, "yes and no". She resembles the free spirit in Robyn Wright's character in a few ways. Nichole is unhurried by the swirling stress that threatens to consume anyone her age. She has this effortless, "eh, let's roll with it attitude", and it's most always accompanied by laughter, lots and lots of laughter. She just appears to be unruffled by anything, it's a very attractive quality in anyone. Her hobbies are deeply rooted in the arts -- although she is a mathematical genius, and I do think she enjoys chemistry more than the average person should --, she is a lovely painter, and the first senior "painter" I've photographed who knew exactly what they were going to paint, not relying on me to come up with an idea for her.

I also think she truly believes in peace, as naive as that notion might seem to others. Nichole is much more grounded, and mature than Forest Gump's love interest, and she's certainly not neurotic. I did get this feeling that she was slightly aloof at moments, allowing herself to be totally removed from a situation, and let her mind wander somewhere else. This happened rarely, because most of the time her dialogue was laughter. With all that said, my favorite quality about Nichole is just how straight weird she is. She is goofy, and that's putting it politely. I still LLOL (literally laugh out loud) when I browse through her shoot. I was practically a total stranger and she still felt compelled to be as strange as she wanted to be in my company. SO AWESOME. This is Nichole Uribe, and she's been liberated.
































































THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID

DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH NICK

"My senior photo shoot with nick was nothing less than amazing! Sometimes I had to remind myself that this wasn’t a friendly hangout, and I actually needed to get some professional pictures done. I felt so comfortable around him within the first 5 minutes of us meeting that the photo shoot could only go up from there. Nick was so generous as to offer to drive up to Sedona to go on a photo shoot extravaganza and dedicate 2 days to shooting Alyssa Kasher and myself. I had such a blast on and off the scenes.

Nick never ceased to make sarcastic, witty comments in conversation, and was always up for creativity. At the same time he was very professional and always determined to make sure all my true characteristics shined through all my pictures as a photographer. Overall, the whole experience was unforgettable. Whether we were all playing the “Answer this question, go!” game, talking about music, relationships, friends, shooting mine and Alyssa’s awkward photos, or just simply having my pictures done, I loved every second of it. I was never not smiling or laughing (except for the few “serious face” photos I attempted to do) at every moment between those 2 days."

HOW DID HE MAKE YOU FEEL WHEN YOU WERE PHOTOGRAPHED?

"Nick made me feel so comfortable with every photo I took. I never even once hesitated to show my personality or my quirks. I had a little difficulty with the serious-face stuff, but only because Nick would always make me laugh or make a comment in which I could not hold back laughter to. I knew my photos would represent me because the whole duration of the photo shoot I was able to let loose and show my true personality; I didn’t hold back anything thanks to my comfortableness around Nick."

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PICTURES WHEN YOU RECEIVED THEM?

"I LOVED MY PICTURES! My first though when I saw them was, “Damn, how did he make me look so good?” hahaha. The wait was definitely worth the quality! The reason I went to Nick was because I didn’t want the plain and boring professional prints. I wanted something more to represent my life up to that point; I wanted creativity, liveliness, and individuality!"

DO YOU THINK YOUR PICTURES BEST REPRESENT YOU? IF SO WHY?

"Oh, they absolutely represent me. Everyone I show my pictures to says “Yeah, that’s Nichole for ya” at least once while browsing my pictures. My awkward quirkiness, my hobbies, my passions were all put forth and represented in my pictures. 98% of my photos I was laughing, dancing, just having fun with it. And that’s definitely me"