Portrait:
Katie Niles,
Photographer
photographs, especially her portraits, are
a m o n g the best in our lesbian culture Her
w ork can be found in Blatant Image 1.2 and
3 * On O ur Backs.* O ff Our Backs.*
W om ankind of Indianapolis. Paid My Dues
of Chicago, and the Crossing Press Calendars.
by Lee Lynch
Katie Niles was a professional photogra
pher back in Indianapolis when she first saw
an ad for the Ovulars, photography w ork
shops held at Rootworks in Southern
O reg o n . She took som e tim e off from the
w edding studio where she worked, got on a
bus, and breathed in relief to escape "all my
little brides.”
It was only at the Ovulars, working with Tee
Corinne, Ruth Mountaingrove, J E B and
others, that she could get the input she
needed about her lesbian photographs. Three
su m m ers and three bus trips later, she left
behind her envy of the groom s who got to .
w ear tuxedos and m oved all her earthly be
longings to the land that had stolen her heart
and challenged her considerable talent After,
T H E
Katie Niles
AMAZON
TRAIL
that is, one last trip to the east coast to see
M eg and Chris at Carnegie Hall — in a tux of
her own.
T h o u g h she’d hoped to get a job doing
d arkro o m work in Grants Pass, near Root-
works, the first opening that cam e along was
in Ashland as a short order cook. There she is
still, enjoying the town’s culture, gay residents
and her cooking job — for the freedom it
gives her to photograph w om en who aren’t at
all the m arrying kind. Often, she hasn’t the
m o n ey to buy film, but when she has, her
Niles is a preacher’s daughter and her
father’s hobby was photography. She recalls
that she and her sister would get instamatics
for Christm as as kids. Later, when her father
h ad n’t tim e to use his darkroom , he turned
his daughters loose in it Tho ugh he didn’t
teach th em to use it by 10 or 11 both girls had
taught themselves the rudim ents o f photog
raphy. Niles’ m ajor influence right through
high school was Im ogen Cunningham . By
the tim e she hit college, her skills were so
advanced she couldn’t bear to waste time
sitting through prerequisite photography
courses and settled for a teaching degree.
She graduated at that p o in t from docu
m enting life on the fam ily farm, taking
pictures of cats and sheep and scenery, to
docum enting life on cam pus. More specifi
cally. to doing portraits of her w om en friends.
She got so senous she brought her whole
darkroo m with her. Eventually, she began to
concentrate on portraits of one particular
w om an. She rem em bers thinking they were
“just real good friends," until, one d a y . . .
It was after college that Niles began to
concentrate on portraits of lesbians. That first
lover was a very closeted professional. As
Niles found herself getting freer and freer in
her lifestyle and her work, they separated.
Then, she says, "I realized there's a whole
bunch of w om en out there!” Her influences
b ecam e J E B and Tee Corinne, especially
C o rin n e’s “Sinister W isdom Poster”* and her
Holly N ear album cover. Perhaps Niles’ most
fam ous photograph is of two black women,
clothed, one on the other’s lap, turned, al
m ost kissing, touching intimately. It is a pow
erfully erotic image. (Blatant Image I, p. 50.)
T h o u g h she can’t take as m any pictures in
Southern O regon as she did back in Indiana,
Niles says her work out here is m ore consis
tently good. Living here has its problems,
though. It was easier to get to lesbians in the
city. Here, we are fewer in num ber and live
farther a p a rt She doesn’t own a car. Still, she
sees enough o f fellow photographers, she
feels, to get m uch of what she once got from
the Ovulars: the feedback, the encourage
m e n t news of the lesbian photography market
Her goals are as clear and down to earth as
she is. to m ake enough m oney this year to
buy m ore than one roll of film at a tim e, to
afford other materials she needs. Niles is not
discouraged, though. T h ere’s enough tim e
left, she says, to accom plish her long term
goal: “T o be Im ogen C unningham at 9 2 and
still go in g !”
*K atie Niles can be reached at P O Box 495 ,
Ashland, O R 9 7 5 2 0 .
* Blatant Im age is available from 2 0 0 0 King
M ountain Trail, W olf Creek, O R 97497.
*On O ur Backs is available from PO Box
42 1 9 1 6 , San Francisco, CA 2 0 0 0 9 , and is
looking for erotic lesbian graphics.
*O ffO u r Backs can be ordered at 1841 Col
um bia Rd., NW, Wash., D C 2 0 0 0 9 .
*Sinister Wisdom Poster, from Lincoln
Legion o f Lesbians. PO Box 30137, Lincoln,
Neb. 6 8 5 0 3 .
COOPERATIVE
GROCERY
Judith and Daphe. of "It’s a
Natural," natural food store
in Myrtle Creek, Oregon.
Open 7 days, 9 a m to 8 p m
2675 NW Thurman 222-5658
TRI-M ET BUS 53
16
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