SHE’S AN INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER and still photographer. She’s shot for most of the major magazines and worked in television and film production as a videographer, producer, director, screenwriter, and editor.
And there’s something else: like her mom, Aimee is Celtic and has “second sight” – she can see fields of spirits. (Note the ghost in the last picture of the story.) Which may explain why, when she’s shooting, she often feels “called” to look somewhere, and voilá! There’s the picture. Her hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, had the same gift.
You shoot a wide range of subject matter: portraits, landscapes, equine, travel. What ties them together?
National Geographic. When I was growing up in Wyoming, I would spend hours in my room, escaping from my family, leafing through my collection. I loved the wildlife, the indigenous cultures, the social issues, the environment. I was so curious about it all!
Sometimes, I’ve felt like my work should have more of a focus, that I should only photograph in black and white or only take pictures of little dogs or something. But honestly, my interests are so much broader, and I just follow them.
For instance, I love shooting saguaros because they are the protectors of the desert. The local tribes believe they are their ancestors. It’s powerful. And I love horses. I shoot at horse rehabilitation centers: one in Abiquiu, one in Tesuque.
But I’m really, truly just a street photographer, a photojournalist. I like capturing that moment that will never happen again. I’m not interested in manipulation before or after my shot. I think that’s called a straight shooter? Like Cartier-Bresson. That, to me, is brilliance.
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Photo Aimee Madsen
