Interview with Photographer Mariah Carle (and her feet)

One of the truly cool and unique people I've met on this foot journey of mine is model / photographer and friend Mariah Carle. We first met though modelmayhem.com, she had feet and I wanted to photograph them...sooooo we hooked it up and now some years later i decided would be a good idea to look back a bit and interview her for this blog of mine.

Tell us a bit about who you are?
My name is Mariah Carle I run a small photography studio in Pacifica CA, one of my specialties being male nudes. I steal souls then sell them back for a profit.
The images I create are a product of my adventures with others. Sometimes I lead, sometimes, I follow, other times we find a purple striped hoola-hoop in the sand...then the fog rolls in.
I have a fetish for electrical sockets this year, other years it has been blue glass bottles or black dresses.
Sometimes I forget to sell the souls I steal, those are the images labeled "art".

What made you transition from model to photographer? How has it worked out for you thus far?
I wanted more job security, I wanted to be able to continue to create art and love my job as I got older and to be able to work locally as apposed to traveling allover the globe. I wanted to be able to have a more of a home base instead of going to others all the time. Very few women model into their 40's I am already 33, I know I'll still be able to get jobs here & there but there are fewer people who want older models, I can be active in photography until I go blind or die. I am lucky to be able to take all I have learned modeling and use it to help my clients look their best for the camera.

Describe the role that sexuality plays in both your modeling and in your photography.
I have learned as a model that it is not my place to order sexuality around, every time I try to tell society that an image is NON sexual several people wander by and comment of the sexuality they find in it, when I create images I feel are very sexual others come by and tell me they do not see the sexuality in them. I wish my studio to be a save place for all my clients male and female where they can be a little sexy for the camera, for the images, for their secret lovers, but not for me. I am nothing more then a catalyst with a camera, I don't provide the sexuality, my clients provide it, when when they share the photos I have taken of them. I enjoy all the differing people I work with, each has a special need I try to fill, I never judge, I never refuse a job because I might not like their ideas. I love to photograph their ideas and desires, I do not limit myself to any one segment, I photograph women, men, straight gay, I have even done fetish work for clients. Including your favorite fetish of feet...It is my job to take my clients ideas & sexuality and morph them into a photographic piece of art they can look at and enjoy again and again and again.
What sorts of goals have you set for yourself in terms of your photography?
I had a teacher back in High School that told us if we ever found a way to make money doing what we love we would never work a day in our lives. I took a severe cash pay cut to live as a full time artist, by my soul enjoys the benefits from wanting to get up and go to work every day. I want to keep my studio alive, and prosperous, be a active member of my local community, and keep learning and growing as an artist.

I’d like you to put into words our relationship (as you see it) as well as your thoughts on my appreciation for your feet.
You mean the man who is having a lurid long distance affair with my feet? I love others reactions, if they already know about your art and you then they understand, if they do not know who you are some of them think it might be a bit strange. I love telling people that my name is tattooed on your hand. Sometime I leave out the part where other women's names are also tattooed on your hand, it makes me feel more special.
I find the whole idea that since it is my feet that is is not seen as sexual by 99% of society, including my own husband who quotes "No petting above the ankle" Since so many people ignore my feet, it is lovely that you pay so much attention to them. I got a pedicure and a manicure in blue and set up a whole shoot just for this interview.

What do you see for yourself in 2010?
My goals for 2010 are a combination of surpassing 2009 in monetary, education and personal growth. I have one show already in the works for spring and another show I will be entering for summer. I have expanded my boudoir site to include male nude photography & hope to start shooting more couples in 2010.

*all photos by Mariah Carle