Sarah Shafey is a Renaissance Woman with a capital T. That ‘T’ could stand for ‘Talented.’ Or ‘Thirsty.’ Or ‘Transcendent.’ Each of the three ‘T’s are equally fitting; yet they only begin to describe her jacktress-of-many-trades persona. Sarah Shafey is a producer and engineer who runs her own recording studio called Squeaky Clean Records. She’s a deft interviewee; her “Shafey’s Palace” webisodes are as much entertaining as they are insightful. In many-a-photograph, she’s a chameleon whose ability to constantly reinvent herself will leave you breathless. She helps manage a creative collective, GoodSoundsGood, which is taking the Toronto music scene by storm. Most importantly she’s a singer-songwriter whose full-length debut album, Tiny Music Box, is a myriad of avant-garde magnificence, a sort of sonic flea market that showcases all of the aforementioned aspects that make Sarah Shafey remarkably unique.

Tiny Music Box is no small achievement; defying generalization the way true artists defy having their work pigeonholed to a certain definition. On Tiny Music Box’s 14 tracks you’re taken on a cruise across the radio station dial; pop, jazz, funk, vaudeville, contemporary, electronic– you name it. Tiny Music Box is an experience, a journey, an insight into the creative mind of someone who always has their eyes looking forward, and their ears tuned into whatever is around them.

Sarah Shafey is a classically-trained pianist whose attention lies beyond the periphery, seeking out whatever is available to her in the quest to get the most out of her sound, be it traditional instruments, or that which is produced by a computer program. While so many others choose to ignore the bigger picture politically of what’s going on in the world, the world-traveled Shafey isn’t afraid to say—or sing about—how she filters everything through her eyes. She’s seemingly one of the few nowadays who choose context– listening to CDs on a Sony Discman– versus convenience, like the billions who have their iPods plugged directly into their brain. Yes, Sarah Shafey is unique, and through everything she never loses her sense of humor. Recently Sarah Shafey stopped by Oxyfication to talk shop.

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The obligatory ‘where did it all begin?’ Growing up what was your exposure to music? What types of music did you like/listen to? Who got you into it? And when did you realize that you wanted to do it for a living?

It all began in a back alley…

Kidding.

I guess you can say it began when I first [laid] my hands on a piano when I was 4- years old. I was at my babysitter’s house, and I actually looked forward to it because I got a chance to fiddle away on those sweet ivory keys and ignore everything the babysitter said. I have always enjoyed listening to all genres of music as long as it was catchy to the ear, and it helped that my parents had a great vinyl collection of the Bee-Gees, Elton john, Boney M, Cat Stevens, classic stuff. I was raised in a very education-based atmosphere so after I graduated from University I decided to rebel and give the whole music thing a shot and moved to Toronto. It was less about making a living and more about just living the best and happiest way I knew.

As a person you’re very well traveled, and the influences are very evident and all over the place in your music. Were there any specific places, or people, or experiences that maybe more than others you remember really wowing you, and that maybe now you see in your music now because of it?

I did indeed grow up all over the world and am extremely thankful for it. Not only did I get to see the world for what it really [was] as a whole, but I got to hear music of all sorts. I didn’t realize that I was retaining all this music in my brain until I started producing and it naturally starting coming out. My background is Egyptian and all of my extended family is still there so we often would go spend months over there and its such a different way of life. I love that the people don’t have very much but they are happy as happy can be with family, friends and of course tabla circles all night long. I find Egyptian music from the 30’s-50’s to be the most intriguing and haunting and recently starting delving more into recreating that feeling in my own stuff. I was also in England for a while and the DANCE/POP/JUNGLE scene was crazy and I have always loved a good party song. And of course Toronto is filled with great music of all genres, and meeting and collaborating with these people has obviously had a great influence in my own music.

In 2007 you released a debut five-song E.P. Though stellar it seems, at least in terms of grandiosity, to sound like there’s a singer who is sticking her toes in the water to gauge the temperature so to speak. What was it like recording that E.P.? What did you take from it?

That EP was a blast to make. I had just moved to Toronto and met a wonderful bunch of guys running a studio called 3Bone Audio and quickly they became my family. They were fresh out of University and were all ridiculously talented with production, engineering and mixing, and I felt like the luckiest gal in town to be able to freely go over to the studio and just make some beats and sing to them. It wasn’t calculated at all, and at the time we were all just into making electronic stuff so that’s how that EP came to be. For me it was the greatest lesson in production and computer programs, and I took it all in and have never taken that experience for granted.

2009 brings the release of your first full-length album, Tiny Music Box. How long of a process was the making of it? When you started off recording the songs that would become Tiny Music Box you’ve said that you thought you were just going to make another demo consisting of a few songs. How far along into that process did you know that you wanted to do something more, and did you ever have a specific vision or concept of what you wanted from the songs, or was it more a matter of just recording the songs as they came to you?

So my baby, Tiny Music Box, was also an experience that was just plain fun to make. I went through writers block for a year, and instead of dwelling on that I decided to lock myself away in my apartment, buy a load of gear, rip a bunch of programs—yeah I said it—and teach myself how to produce, and do it well. After a few months of just writing stuff I realized songs were coming into fruition and decided to just record without a deadline until I had a bunch of tracks on hand. I eventually ended up after two years with a ridiculous amount of songs ranging from rock, hip-hop, electronic, classical, jungle, pop, you name it, and decided to take the songs that were piano based and turn them into an album.

Tiny Music Box has a little bit of everything. To someone who hasn’t heard it yet how would you classify, or describe the album to them?

It’s a soundtrack to space, time, consciousness, life, people-watching, memories, the id, alter-egos, superheroes, stupid people, hands-on-hands-off, human interaction or lack-thereof, lightening, politics, children laughing, people clapping, why are we here, alternate dimensions, black holes, the monetary system, and piano melodies on fire.

Where did “Five Min To Go” come from?

[Laughs] This song makes me laugh. I serve tables to survive and one day during the last five minutes of work I started writing this song in my head and heard a muted horn as well. It’s simply about how I feel during those last five minutes that drag on to feel like an eternity.

In your bio it says, “She quickly became hungry to learn more about computer programs and how to infuse new technology with classic live instrumentation.” With your classically trained background is there ever an internal conflict going on between the use of traditional instruments versus what’s produced by a computer—i.e. a naturalistic sort of wanting to remain true to your training/roots—or is it all simply matter of wanting to get the most of out whatever is available to you?

I seem to get asked this question quite a lot, which is interesting to me because I read a lot about people who are either specifically pro-digital or pro-analog. I am all about intertwining live stuff with computerized sounds. I think it’s a blessing to be able to have the ability to use both and I don’t feel conflicted at all about combining the two. It’s a fun game to me, and I try my best to stay on top of new technologies and programs available. What do they call that…ummm FUN!!!

To that point, from your debut E.P. to Tiny Music Box, your sound has grown exponentially, incorporating so many more instruments to the fold, creating more luscious landscapes within the songs. Was this something you set out to do, was it a natural evolution or growth, or was it maybe something else? If the E.P. sounded like a singer feeling out the pool it seems like with Tiny Music Box you’ve jumped right in.

You couldn’t have been more eloquent with this question. The EP was exactly that; I had no idea what I was doing at the time and just went for it. With [Tiny Music Box] I was much more comfortable with my skills, with mixing and producing, and decided to use any and every instrument on hand or available to me via other musicians. I have always been a fan of using vocals and harmonies as another instrument—Radiohead—and love layers upon layers of pads, strings, anything really. A lot of the instruments used were literally stuff I would find at bargain stores, or even recording chopsticks banging on each other as part of a beat. I am sure my next album will be completely different according to whatever other weird instruments [I] have found in the meantime.

The melody in “Trouble With The Rain” sounds like it could be an outtake from Bill Conti’s score from Rocky. Though I’m pretty sure Rocky wasn’t the inspiration for that song, the point is that many of your songs seem tailor-made for film. With Squeaky Clean Records your focus is on commercial and soundtrack music. In terms of your own music—specifically the songs of the E.P. and Tiny Music Box—when you’re writing those types of songs do you see or imagine them in film, or do you separate that sort of writing from your commercial writing?

Yes, Boss!! My dream in life is to score for film, and you’d better believe that I am going to do it. Cocky maybe; [it] doesn’t faze me. I think that there is still a lot to learn, but every time I write a song I imagine a scene from a movie and definitely make them as potential soundtrack songs. Sometimes I am so nerdy as to take clips from YouTube, put them on mute, and write stuff to them. Squeaky Clean Records is all about composition for film, games, anime, web, and it’s mostly instrumental music. I have sound banks just overloaded with songs that could be used for movies by Tarantino, Jean Pierre Jeunet, Tim Burton; just give me an orchestra and I am ready to go.

Through posts on your blog, or in songs of yours such as “War Crimes” it’s pretty evident that you’re politically aware of what’s going on in the world. First, how do you feel about the state of things, and second do you see a song—songs in general, but more specifically your own songs—as being anything more than an artists outlet to state their side of things? Or do you feel as an artist that artists have a responsibility if they so feel compelled to spread the word so to speak on the political events going on in the world?

I believe that we are extremely apathetic beings who are lazy and sit around wasting time thinking about having more, more, more, I need more, give me more. Yuck! I think everyone has a responsibility to speak his or her mind about the sad state of affairs in this world. I am not entirely educated on everything that is going on, and I am definitely not the most eloquent of speakers on these matters, but I know what I feel in my heart and gut and it’s mostly a sense of sadness for the lack of community, values, and acceptance of difference. Instead we sit around and Twitter our lives away, which I think is one of the greatest ploys created to distract us from the reality of things. I write my songs exactly how I converse so I’m literally having a conversation with my listeners and myself. Obviously I think we can do more as a whole, myself included, and that needs to start with new ideologies that combine all schools of thought; Capitalism, Marxism, Communism, Liberalism, and possibly something new that I am not smart enough to conjure up. We cannot just sit around and wait for our government to create our rules because folks it’s not really working very well.

You wear so many hats—singer, songwriter, producer, engineer—that your thumbprint is on every process of the recording. Is this a desire to control the entire canvas so to speak; is it more a natural bi-product of using your varying talents on your own music, or maybe something else? Is it ever difficult to separate or step back from one aspect to focus on another?

This is a tasty question. I have always been interested in doing the most I can for my own projects. I enjoy wearing all of these hats equally, and it is not about control. It is more about using whatever skills I may have and applying them to my own work and still understanding when to step back. I know that if I tried to master my own music it would sound like garbage because I don’t do that. I know that if I tried to do the artwork, it would look like paper-mâché rotting. I know not to try playing a horn instrument because it would probably break, etc.

Tiny Music Box has initially been released in a pay-for-download only format, forgoing the traditional hard-copy route. You’ve stated your intention is to hopefully generate enough capital through the current download structure to be able to produce physical CDs in the near future. Are there any advantages perhaps though to what you’re doing now considering that so many people nowadays have shied away from the traditional route and get their music from iTunes type download sources, and would you be happy if Tiny Music Box remains a download only album?

I am just happy it’s out in any form possible. I spend a great deal of time on the internet and find a digital format to be extremely convenient, but I also still use a Discman over and iPod any day, so a hard copy version would be nice. The quality of a .wav file over an .mp3 is not even worth discussing, and I have always found that the EQ settings on Discmans sound way better than the tinny sound of an iPod. Don’t get me wrong, I do have an iPod, but honestly I use it more as an external hard drive. [At] the end of the day quite frankly it’s about what I can afford and rent comes first.

What are some of the goals you have for Tiny Music Box?

To use it as a mind control tool, become a crazy dictator and make school children recite my songs in unison during recess.

You’ve got a remix that you did of Radiohead’s song “Nude” posted on your MySpace page and you’ve completely re-imagined the song to the point where if you didn’t know it was Radiohead to begin with–at least until towards the end–you’d be hard-pressed to guess it was them. What was remixing that song like? How was the reaction you received for your version?

Radiohead are like Gods. I just had so much fun doing that remix and thought it was genius of them to put the stems up for public use on their website; what a grand gesture. I had a friend of mine, Zaki Ibrahim, sing on it as well as my buddy Mike Celia play guitar. It was purely for the sake of doing it because I could. People have liked it, but that wasn’t my concern. Now if they could only post the stems from The Bends my life would be complete.

You’ve been photographed a good deal and if these were to be a collection it would seem fitting that it would called something along the lines of The Many Faces Of Sarah Shafey. Is being photographed something you enjoy, and do you see it as another extension of your vision as an artist?

A guilty pleasure, I must say, that I think is mostly based on narcissistic thoughts. I am Aquarian for God’s sake; I get bored really easily with whatever image I am projecting into the world, and according to my mood I feel the need to keep a photographic diary of it all. I also really enjoy working with these different local photographers because they always provide their own unique vision and I appreciate their talent. [Singing] “SHE’S SOOOOO VAIN, I GUESS YOU THINK THIS SONG IS ABOUT YOU.”

You’re part of the very talented Toronto-based creative collective GoodSoundsGood. Tell us a bit about how being a part of it has been for you, and how you see where you all are now versus when you started it in 2007?

Yay, GOODSOUNDSGOOD! I love the fact that I am a part of something so amazing in this city, and I feel lucky. It’s funny how it started out. Two wonderful musicians by the name of Emma-Lee and Emer thought up the idea to start a mostly female collective of musicians of varied genres. I got an email a few years ago randomly asking me to come to a potluck to discuss what would later be known as “GoodSoundsGood”. Although one wouldn’t know it, I am extremely shy when it comes to certain social settings, and I lied and said I was sick or some lame nonsense like that. I luckily got a second email—thank God— and decided to suck it up and went, and boy am I ever glad I did that. I walked into a room full of intelligent, talented, friendly, smart, and HOT people who were ready to get together and take over the world. We have all grown exponentially over the years, and root each other on in every aspect of our musical careers. We share resources; play shows together, learn together, eat together, and I have made some of the greatest friends through GSG.

Another hat that you wear is interviewer. What’s Shafey’s Palace all about? When are you bringing it back and who is up next?

“Shafey’s Palace” fills me with joy. I was watching Wayne’s World and thought, “I am going to do that.” So I ventured towards Yonge Street, bought a piece of shit camera, and starting calling friends and asking them to come along for the experiment I called “Shafey’s Palace”. It is an online interview, live music show that caters to local indie talent, and a touch of humor. I knew I had the skills to built a decent website, and also do audio production, and I thought it would be cool to record them doing a live song and mix it to sound like a professional studio recording. My intention was to come back with more in the New Year but my own album’s release took over my life for a minute there and I had to focus my energy on that, which was a priority. Now that it all said and done with, get ready for Round Two. Next up is blueVenus, and I am pretty sure it’s coming at you in March ‘09.

What’s 2009 going to bring for Sarah Shafey?

[Singing] Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King/Queen; Let every heart prepare Him/Her room, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing…And Justin Holt is cool!!

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Tiny Music Box at CD Baby

Website

MySpace

Squeaky Clean Records

Shafey’s Palace

GoodSoundsGood

In popular culture the music box often holds magical powers; there’s an allure to it; you know the tune through and through, but it maintains its charm, it’s forever young, and every time you open the box you can close your eyes, hear the tune, and it’ll take you to that place. Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Sarah Shafey’s full-length debut Tiny Music Box is no small achievement, holding all the power and mysticism of a music box on steroids.

The album opens with “C’est Demain” and immediately the mood is set; mixed up feet or not, Shafey is waltzing you through a journey, and she’ll keep you on your toes. In “After Dark but Early in the Morn” she sings, “Let’s dance the night away” and she two-steps you into a trance. There’s no fitting the songs of Tiny Music Box into a specific genre; the influences are evident and everywhere, from literally all over the globe, from a makeshift carnival, to the Wild West, to the pyramids of Egypt and beyond. Each song seems to holds a different mood, yet they seamlessly flow into one another with a natural ease.

Shafey’s voice is both sultry and sure, refined with a rapturing rasp that conjures up shades of Stevie Nicks; she’s just as much a shaman as she is a singer, and she uses her piano the way Picasso used his hands.

The songs standout like stars on the boundless sea in the dark of night. By the time the album closes with the epic “Good Intentions” everything’s a hazy blur. Tiny Music Box is like heading out on a road-trip with that free-willed friend; though at times it seems like they have no idea where they’re going, everything is calculated, and you’re going to end up where you belong: a better place. Tiny Music Box is that place, and Sarah Shafey’s the perfect person to take you.

A deft songwriter and witty lyricist, Clare Love shows more promise in five songs than the most weathered veterans show over entire careers. On her new E.P., Finding Home, the unpredictability of Love’s strumming on her acoustic guitar is reminiscent of early Ani Difranco, as can be the way she brandishes her torrid voice; always potent, it can go from Doris Day sensual to Linda Perry steely in an instant, inveigling your ears into a sonic submission. In the opening track, “Winterbloom Serenade” Love sings, “Stories running wild with you/Plot starving thin/Love renting rooms in you/A dollar fifty a sin” before asking “Is this hard life finally catching up with you?” Showing equal parts assertiveness and vulnerability, the songs are snapshots of moments we all know too well. In the cathartic “Coma” when she sings, “You only want me when I’m tired of you” it hurts because it’s true. The most honest things in life are always the hardest to face. The mirror that Love sets her listener in front of is foreboding. Though not forgetful, the reflection it offers back is forgiving. On the album’s title track she sings, “Everybody’s gotta have a good breakdown.” If this is what a good breakdown did for her we should all be grateful. Finding Home, the E.P., sounds just like finding home, the journey in life, should: really good.

Canadian singer-songwriter, Amelie Lefebvre’s (she goes by Amelie) music is like a stranger hugging you: you don’t have to understand, or know the person doing the hugging to feel the warmth in their embrace. That old cliche about music being universal, that rings true here. All but one song on her debut album, Amelie, is sung in French, a language probably foreign to a lot of people south of the Canadian border. But from the album’s opening track “24 heures” (an acoustic version also closes the disk) your ears tell you, knowing the language or not, it doesn’t matter, good is good, and Amelie is certainly that. The album as a whole is like hitting the scan dial on your radio; there’s a bunch of different styles, from jazz, to lounge, to pop, and more, sometimes within the same song. It can go from Broadway to beer hall, from carnival to candle light, without warning. “Comme t’es” is reminiscent of all that was—and still is—good about the sixties style radio hits of Ben E. King and the likes. From the first guitar strum you’re hooked into the song. The more than contagious clap along serves as the perfect counterpart to the mix of guitars, and the infectious bass. You’re not only listening to the song, you’re participating in it. And that participation aspect carries over throughout. “Cousine” has a very visual black and white noir detective film feel to it, where you can imagine yourself playing voyuer as the character within the song is creeping around corners and back alleys in seach of their lover. In “Her Beauty”, the album’s only predominantly English song, Amelie’s talent as a witty storyteller is revealed, “If bliss is ignorance they say/what about that frown.” As for Amelie’s voice, which at times is reminiscent of Aimee Mann’s, it’s very sensuous—in spots just outright seductive—and soothing; and it is beautifully accented by the violin on “Jimmy” and the flugel horn on “Mon grand.” In fact, the musicians that play on Amelie are all standouts in their own ways. Everything feels together. Everything sounds together; Amelie is a very compact record. Sure, it would be a bonus to know French so you could understand the majority of the lyrics. But it’s really not that important: going in with blind ears is just fine. Amelie’s voice, and the fun nature of her music will lead you where you need to go. And along the way she won’t disappoint.

“Come for the breasts. Stay for the heart.”

That’s the tagline to Katie West’s website. Find yourself exploring the site one minute, and an hour later, eyes all bloodshot, mouth still ajar, you’ll see the tagline fitting. West, a photographer from Windsor, Canada is not only not afraid to show either—her breasts or her heart—she’s adept at intertwining the two with an ease that is equally admirable as it is poetic. Through an extensive—and impressive—collection of self-portraits (though not her sole focus, self-portraits are her specialty) you see a gamut of emotions and inspirations. West uses a camera the way a mirror uses people. She is both vulnerable and strong in her pictures, shy and savage. If a picture is worth a thousand words Katie West writes a novel each time the shutter closes. On top of that, West can write. From time to time her blog features passages written as if they were cut at random with scissors, most of them in medias res, conversations about experiences, either fictional or true, that ring like chimes on a windy winter day. They sting. They make you remember you’re alive. Like her photographs West’s writing has the innate gift of being honest. Recently that honesty carried over into West answering a few questions ranging from how she came into photography, to whom are some of her inspirations, to the power the Internet has in helping spread the word on the individuals behind the viewfinder.

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The seeds of creativity had to be planted somewhere along the way. Do you remember your early creative moment(s)? Did they involve photography/taking pictures? If so/not, when did you first get bit by the photography bug?

I always wanted to be a writer. From as soon as I could write, I wanted to be a writer. But I guess continually getting rejected from creative writing classes (but really, who needs them?) took its toll and I focused mainly on my photography. As far as the first memories I have of photography, they all come from modeling for friends. My friends in high school were all very artistic and all went on to attend art school. I can’t draw or paint of sculpt, but I still believed I had an artistic view that I could offer. So I weaseled my way into an advanced photography class and just jumped in. Because I hadn’t taken the first class, I had no idea about technique or the technical aspect of developing film or anything, but I knew I liked it. And then it just went from there. And I still don’t know anything about the technical side of photography.

In your biography it mentions that you’re going to school for a BA in English and Literature. In your various online journals/blogs your writing is part the revealing of everyday stuff with a witty twist, and part poetic snippets that compliment the pictures featured. Is that a cognicent thing, and if so, what comes first, the writing or the photo? Also, why English and Literature and why not Photography?

Well, English Literature because I always thought I was going to be a writer, but I realized I can’t hold a coherent thought after about 2 paragraphs, so I had to switch my focus. And these last five years getting my English degree have been awful; I wish I had taken photography. But I think no one around me really believed that I was serious about photography, I don’t even think I knew. So I just graduated high school, went on to university, did what I thought I was supposed to do. But truth be told, I think it’s ridiculous to have someone decide what they want to do with their life at 18. I also think university is mainly only good for people who want to be a professor, a teacher, a lawyer or go to med school. But that’s just me.

Back to the point! My pictures and writings are usually always separate. Conceived at different moments in time and not usually related in any way. Sometimes the words will come first and I’ll fit a photo with the words, or I’ll look at a picture and remember something from the week it was taken and write about that. People have commented that the way I write reminds them of my photography; short exposures into a life, something they can relate to and something they can appreciate. So perhaps the writing is there to help some people relate to the experience while the photo will help bring the other half of the people into the same experience.

You’ve stated online that you haven’t had any formal training in the art of photography. How would you say you’ve learned along the way? Was it a trial and error thing by shooting your way to feeling comfortable? Was it advice from other photographers? Did you maybe find help/advice/tips by reading photography instructional books?

I’ve taken a photography class, but as I mentioned earlier, it was the second class and I skipped all the technical stuff, so mostly I’ve learned by trial and error, but I also know a lot of very talented photographers. So when I’m stuck on something I can call them up and bother them with questions. I’ve also learned by looking at a LOT of photographers online and thinking to myself, “Wow, I really like how they did that in this photo here, I wonder if I can do it?” And then experiment until I get something I like.
When taking pictures are you a planner–i.e. Are you one to plan out/set up a shoot in advance–or are you more the type to just grab your camera and go?

I definitely do not plan my photos. All of them are shot on a whim and all stem from something I’ve been thinking about and something I’ve been feeling; photography as therapy. Every time I try to plan a photo, it’s always so outrageous and grand that I wouldn’t even know from where to start to shoot it, plus they usually involve things I can’t have, like hundreds of stuffed crows, or Chinese restaurants filled to the brim with fetish models, stuff like that. Haha.

In your self-portraits a lot of different looks come across. One shot can feel very Audrey Hepburn while the next is very Shirley Manson or Fairuza Balk. Are these extremes intended, and if so/not, do you see your self-portraits as a role-playing of sorts, where you can be anyone you want to be in the name of art?

I say you can be anyone you want to be in the name of…well just because you can. You don’t need art to justify it. These extremes come across in my photography because they exist inside me. Some days I feel like a sex vixen, other days I feel very alone and vulnerable. But everyday I feel honest, and want to share what I’m feeling with total strangers!

Not so long ago most people probably heard the word ‘photography’ and thought of Ansel Adams or Anne Geddes, something they’d find mass marketed in a mall department store. But that’s changed in large part because of the advancement of the Internet. How has the Internet changed the way you approach/market/spread your photography?

I think it’s ridiculous for someone attempting to promote themselves, whether as an artist, a business, whatever, and not have a web presence of some kind in today’s world of e-commerce and Google. People become famous from having a video on YouTube. People become rich by selling used underwear on eBay. People get lucrative ad deals by posting photos on Flickr. Today’s world basically lives online, and that works out well for me, because in real life, I’m very very shy. I know, hard to believe while looking at pictures of me naked on my kitchen table, but trust me, I don’t do social well. So for me, the Internet is integral to my photography; without it, I would not be answering these questions, because you would not know who I am and you wouldn’t care. I like how the Internet gives those who wouldn’t necessarily get exposure into situations where they can, and how that can lead to real life success. The Internet is basically the only tool I use to spread the good word, as it were. I spend many hours updating livejournal, myspace, deviant art, journals on suicidegirls, gods girls, deviant nation, updating profiles at model mayhem and retro kitten, adding photos to flickr. It’s a lot of work, but worth it.

To pick up on the last question regarding the internet, do you think that it’s completely a good thing, or is there a danger, and a watering down element out there where too many people have too much exposure, and basically everyone has a camera? Does that maybe make it harder to get noticed or be taken seriously?

It might, but maybe it also makes people work harder, because a photographer who is used to having gallery shows and what not might realize that there are people on the internet who are doing things infinitely cooler than what they’re doing, and they think, “Oh shit, I better kick it up a notch.” So maybe it makes for more boundaries being pushed and more creativity being squeezed out of people’s brains. It is true that everyone and their grandma has a digital camera and can upload photos and call themselves a photographer and act super awesome, but I’m sure the majority of people can tell the difference between someone like Holly Bynoe, who is an amazing photographer and someone who is uploading pictures of their feet to post on MySpace.

That old cliché about how sex sells, there are a fair amount of your pictures that have nudity in them. Is the nudity strictly an intimate expression of your art, and possibly yourself, or is it at least in part a way to pull people in and get them to look around at your other stuff?

Haha, no! I don’t use sex to seduce people into my work! Never! Well, I don’t, not really. If I used sex to pull people in to look at my other stuff, they’d be thinking, “Okay, what other stuff?” I think many people look at my work and consider me to be an erotica photographer, and that’s fine with me. Everything I do, I do because I like it, and I like sex, and I like being a woman, so that often appears in my photography. But some of my favourite pictures of mine have no nudity in them, well I’m not usually wearing pants, but pants are overrated anyway.

On the nudity angle, do you find that at least on some level that the nudity puts you in a vulnerable position considering that complete strangers see that much of you? It is ever a double-edged sword, where at times it leads to’creep’ mail/email/advances/etc? If so, how do you/would you react to messages like that?

I think the majority of my nude photos don’t really represent a vulnerable Katie. I find that my strongest photos are usually the ones in which I’m naked. Usually when I’m mad or frustrated I take nude photos, I think because I find it to be my most honest and liberating means of expression. I don’t think it’s the nudity or the clothing that makes someone vulnerable or what have you, I think it’s their expression, their body language, their surroundings and how they’re reacting to them. In regards to creep emails, I’ve only honestly received 3 or 4. Most of the time, it seems like the sender doesn’t even realize how creepy they’re being. I understand people have fetishes and if someone asks me for already chewed food or hair or urine, I just say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t sell that sort of product. Sorry about that, thanks for the interest though!”

With programs like Photoshop out there that allow so much manipulation to any given picture is it ever an issue of artistic integrity to leave the picture(s) as untouched as much as possible? Or is it maybe just the opposite, and those programs allow you to enhance a picture as much as possible?

There’s always people who are anti-Photoshop and other such programs, but I like the freedom Photoshop gives me. The words ‘artistic integrity’ to me have more to do with not stealing other artists’ work and claiming it as your own than not manipulating your own work.

Who/what are some of your influences? Who are some of your favorite photographers? What is your favorite photograph of someone else’s?

My main influences and favourite photographers are mainly photographers I’ve found online through sites like Flickr, and I also like fashion photographers: Miles Aldridge is a favourite; I really like high concept photography, though I don’t usually attempt any in my own work.

I like finding photographers through Flickr because I like the interaction that’s possible on a site like that. I can favourite photos I like, I can add people to my contact list and keep track of what they’re doing, I can talk to the artist and discuss their art, I think that’s awesome. Some of my favourite photographers on Flickr are Rose and Olive, Jack Scoresby, Holly Bynoe, Dr. Joanne, Rebekka, Unscene, Nardell, Kristmas Klousch oh god, I could go on and on and on. I’m also influenced by artistic people I’ve met online, like Warren Ellis, J.R. Blackwell and Jhayne Holmes. People who ooze creativity.

In pitting photography against the other arts–writing, music, painting, etc–how do you think that photography is different?

Photography is good for people like me who can’t actually draw or paint or sculpt. It’s good for people who have an artistic mind but have trouble expressing it. Art is so subjective so I’m not even going to argue why photography is or is not an art, but like writing or painting or music, there’s good photography and there’s bad photography. That’s all.

What is the hardest part about being a photographer?

I don’t think there is anything hard about being a photographer. I get to express myself how I can, how I want, whenever I want, whenever I can. I make money doing what I love doing. I guess the hardest part is not making enough money to just take photos all the time and not have to have another job. I think I am very lucky that I do what I do and people respond to it so well. I don’t take any email or comment for granted. When someone takes the time to write me, or to comment on a picture, then I feel very lucky that I was able to create something that they like just as much as I do.

A hypothetical: Someone comes across your personal site, or one of your blog/photo posting sites, what do you want them to get from your photography?

I want them to think, “Yeah, I totally get that. I’ve been there, felt that and I love this because you get it too.” After I post a picture online, it’s not really mine anymore; it can belong to whoever’s looking at it. And they can interpret it however they want to suit their own needs. I don’t like to explain my photography or the things I write, I’d much rather people be able to see themselves and their experiences reflected in my work. I just want people to be affected by my work; whether they’re pissed at all the boobs, happy at all the boobs, empathize with my loneliness, uncomfortable with my honesty, or turned on by it. I want people to “come for the breasts, stay for the heart.”

What does success mean to you in terms of being a photographer?

I would love to be able to do photography and live off of the income it generates. That’s not necessarily success, but it sure would be nice.