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Thread, Nora Scarlett, 2001

Photographer Nora Scarlett spent 20 years working out of her Manhattan studio before moving to the Hudson Valley five years ago. Scarlett’s scope of work has been primarily in the advertising field, as a still-life photographer for such clients as The Gap, AT&T, Reebok, American Express, and others. Since her move, Scarlett shifted the focus of her work to creating fine art prints from advertising. Her current project is the 2004 Teddy Bear calendar for Workman Publishing. For the calendar, Scarlett designs entire scenes for each shot, creating props and outfits for the stuffed animals, animating the teddy bear tableaux before getting behind the camera.

This technique of crafting a shot in a staged environment, rather than capturing an image raw, is indicative of Scarlett’s photographic philosophy. “I like to make photographs (as opposed to taking them), starting from blackness, nothingness, and purposefully adding all the elements: light, objects, background, foreground, etc.,” writes Scarlett. “I love creating an organic image, adding subtle touches that take it beyond being just another bland shot. Still-life can have life.”

An avid rock climber, Scarlett lives with her family in the New Paltz area, close to the Shawangunk ridge. Scarlett’s work can be viewed on (and she can be contacted via) her Web site: www.norascarlett.com.