Meet Nicole Lockhart | Photographer/ Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicole Lockhart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m from the trailer parks of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Michigan. Where I came from impacted where I am today because I received a lot of discrimination growing up in Ann Arbor Michigan because of living in a trailer park and being poor. Kids weren’t allowed to come to my birthday party or sleepover, etc.. this type of treatment definitely keeps me humble, as I still live in a trailer and have a studio there. There’s nothing wrong with living in a mobile home/trailer park!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a photographer I’ve been doing photography since I was a child. Nothing about coming from poverty and running your own business or even just being an artist is easy. Photography is a rich kid activity and growing up. It was a hard hobby to get into because I was always seven steps behind what was popular but I deal with that get me down. I use my creativity always bring my best work and my most creative ideas to life. It sucks when it feels like a hobby can be kept because it’s so expensive. But I’ve been fortunate enough to never let that get me down.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The city I live in is Ypsilanti and if I had a friend visiting or even just a Photographer visiting, I would definitely take them to depot town. It’s really cute and there’s lots to eat! I’d also take them to the park surrounding depot town, which is frog Island, and Riverside park because they are beautiful! I’d have to take them to Luca’s Coney Island because I grew up going there it is my favorite place to eat in Ypsilanti and holds a very sentimental value to me. I would also take them to the local stores world of rocks and rock lastly the local antique shops.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wanna dedicate the shout out to so many people. My family has always supported me. My parents truly believed that I could do anything I wanted to do even if that meant being president. Fortunately, it meant being an artist. my dad is no longer with us. He passed away in August 2022, but my mom is still with us and she is my superhero. this woman does so much while being 60 and having spina bifida like she is incredible. My whole life she’s letting me do whatever art thing I wanted to do.

Website: www.awakedreaming.art

Instagram: Awake.dreaming

Image Credits
Photo of me by: daebreakstudio