How Would Nikki Shoot This?

Okay…I think I’m on a roll here. LOL

Nikki Sixx, in addition to being a founding member of Motley Crue, musician, songwriter, recovering addict, record company president, clothing designer and parent, is also a photographer. Let me rephrase that: An AMAZING photographer. He has photos on his MySpace profile, his Facebook profile and he throws links to pix up on Twitter too. He is my friend on all three networks and I am a huge admirer of his work – music and photos.

Now…some of his photographic subject matter might not be everyone’s cup of tea. A lot of it is very dark and, depending on your point of view, disturbing. But if you get Nikki and where he’s coming from…and as a fan of his for the last twenty-three years, I’ve read and watched interviews of his, read both of his published books, listened to his radio show…so yes, I get his mindset. Simply put, he sees beauty where others do not.

On the back cover of his current book, This Is Gonna Hurt, there is a quote from his oldest daughter, Storm. She tells the story of a time she was out walking with her dad, and they walked by a bunch of beautiful roses. She commented on that beauty, and he kicked his foot out, knocking one flower’s petals all over the place. She objected…thinking that the flower was now ruined. But Nikki said no, it’s still beautiful.

At first I was of the same mindset as his daughter. Dude are you crazy? Except perhaps for the loss of the intoxicating scent (which I adore) he’s absolutely right. Why? Because it’s all a matter of perspective. How you look at things. Your point of view. (Damn…is it me or is Nikki starting to resemble Obi-Wan Kenobi a bit here? LMAO!)

If you are narrow-minded, then yes, the flower is ruined. But if you keep yourself open to different ways of thinking, new ideas, if you have a “think outside of the box” mentality, you can see that the flower isn’t finished yet. Case in point: I still have the roses from my wedding day nearly eleven years ago. They’re dried out…brittle…if you’re not careful handling them they could break…but I don’t think of them as ruined. They still hold the memory of when a new chapter began in my life.

I was out and about a while back and looking around trying to find something to take a photo of. I can’t remember if I had my Nikon D90 DSLR, or if it was wet and rainy that day and I was relying on the 5 MP camera built into my iPhone. But the thought went through my head: How would Nikki shoot this? I ended up trying to see my world through Sixx-colored lenses, if you will. Because after reading his latest book – including his daughter’s comments – I thought about occasionally trying to change my own viewpoint…at least in relation to my viewfinder. I already know what he’d be shooting if he was here…and I am not brave enough to venture into the alleys of the Downtown East Side of Vancouver alone. Or even with a bodyguard, like he did a few years ago.

For me…that would mean, not shooting what I normally do. I haven’t really found my photographic niche yet. I just shoot what’s pretty, to me anyway. It could be a flower or other plant, one of the many forms of local wildlife, cityscape, landscape, my brightly smiling daughter…I shoot pretty much anything and everything. So now I am going to add “not so pretty” to my photographic agenda…and see where it takes me.