Mahnoosh Niakan Makes Fine Art With a Cult Classic Tool

Like so many photographers, Mahnoosh Niakan tends to get bored easily. So, she tries to find all the ways she can change things up. “From the beginning of my photography journey, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid adopting one specific style, commonly known among creatives as a ‘signature style’,” she tells the Phoblographer in an interview. “Moreover, I find inspiration in every art form to create interesting sets or guide my subjects to achieve specific poses. I pay close attention to light design in old paintings and theatrical performances, as they greatly influence my approach to lighting in photography.” But perhaps most importantly, she isn’t afraid to get experimental and embrace other mediums for inspiration.

All images by Mahnoosh Niakan. Used with permission. For more, please visit her website and follow her on Instagram @mahnooshniakan.

Indeed, Mahnoosh has always loved various imagery techniques like painting and drawing. So, when you look at her work, you can understand how the artistic flair easily translated over. Near the end of high school, she tried photography and purchased her first DSLR. She later applied to study photography at the Lette Institute in Berlin in 2019.

She uses both analog and digital so that she avoids sticking to one specific style of work. “Instead, I create a new custom gear list for each shoot based on the project and the kind of photographs I want to create,” she tells us. “However, in the last couple of months, there’s been one camera that’s been my favorite companion on various day-to-day occasions: the Fuji X100V. This camera allows me to be more flexible and take photos more often than before, which is why I love it so much.” This is music to the ears of a photographer who loves Fuji and gear. But it’s also chicken soup for the soul of the photographer who adores talking about art.

In truth, Mahnoosh is the star of the family where tech and art marry, don’t get divorced, and makes her predecessors cry tears of joy when she achieves success.

More importantly, she doesn’t seem to care much more about algorithms and instead finds strength in being authentic to her own creative vision. Every time she shoots, her process is unique.

With all this said, she finds that we have to accept AI imagery as a new way of making images. “For me, it is crystal clear that working with AI images will not be an option, as I enjoy enormously the whole process of creating from research to interacting with my team and clients on set and post-processing at the end,” she tells us. “Of course, it takes time, but that’s the beauty of our job, and I believe it’s what defines a photographer or an artist.”

AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT

The Phoblographer works with human photographers to verify that they’ve actually created their work through shoots. These are done by providing us assets such as BTS captures, screenshots of post-production, extra photos from the shoot, etc. We do this to help our readers realize that this is authentically human work. Here’s what this photographer provided for us.