Marie Cline — Photographer
“I was obsessed from the start!”
Marie Cline is a photographer from Statesville. She became interested in photography around five-years-old when her parents gave her her first Polaroid camera. “I was obsessed from the start!” Cline says. After going through rolls of Polaroid film and constantly asking her parents for more film, her parents bought her a digital camera when she was twelve. She continued taking pictures of everything around her and honing her skills. She was the photography editor for her high school yearbook, and went on to study film photography in college.
Although Cline doesn’t shoot with film much anymore, she still enjoys the process of film photography, “It’s not instant,” Cline says. “You put a little more work into [shooting with film] because you can’t just delete a picture if it’s not right.” She learned how to process and develop her film in college, and loves the feeling she gets when she’s working in a darkroom and watching her pictures come to life. She hopes to someday have her own darkroom.
Until then, Cline uses a digital camera for most of her photography. Since she has always been the outdoorsy type, she tends to shoot most of her pictures under natural lighting. She has had to learn how to overcome the challenges with natural lighting. With all of the rain this summer, she has had to make the most of the dry days and learn to deal with the lighting on cloudy days. “It’s trial and error and practice,” she admits.
Even though Cline considers herself a very “earthy” person, she also loves the fantasy world. “I’m obsessed with mermaids,” she says. “I’ve always liked the fantasy kind of things…I like the idea of a half fish, half woman who can lure the sailors in by singing. The ocean is magical to me.” In fact, Cline just finished a mermaid shoot in Wilmington. All of the costumes she used were handmade. The make-up artist came in at 4 A.M. and spent two hours getting the models ready to help make Cline’s fantasy a reality.
Cline loves to travel and take pictures of landscapes, but she prefers working with models. “I think it’s the motion that people can display. I like to do something you’re not going to see every day, and people can display what I want.”
Some of Cline’s photos are printed on canvas. Currently, she has between 15 and 20 canvas prints that are being displayed at The Wine Maestro in downtown Statesville. She is also going back to her roots and exploring Polaroid film again. She recently acquired two “new” Polaroid cameras and is experimenting with expired film, which is providing an edgier look to those photos.
“Everything in life inspires me, and I photograph because it’s what I love,” Cline says.
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