Every day I’m hustling - ha ha!! No really, the best thing about being a freelance photographer is each day is different.

In the summer of 1995 I bought a one-way bus ticket from Washington DC to New York City because I wanted to be in the center of opportunity to shoot for creative editorial and advertising clients. I was a recent graduate of The Corcoran College of Art and Design, with a background in fine art photography, but always envisioned my images popping off the pages of a magazine or billboard. New York City keeps you on your toes because the minute you walk out your front door you are inundated with amazing images, whether they are plastered on a building’s wall or driving by on the side of a bus. You are constantly fed imagery other artists created. This daily access can either drive you insane or motivate you to create your own growth. The diversity of people and energy of the city inspire me the most.

My time is spent researching ideas, prepping, shooting, editing, postproduction, invoicing, marketing, and going on in person meetings. Not necessarily in that particular order. Living in New York City also allows me to work with some incredibly talented crew. I treasure the wardrobe stylist, hair and makeup, set designer/prop stylist, models, and hardworking lighting and digital assistants I have the pleasure of working with. They help bring my vision to life and I am very appreciative of their passion and skill.

When you dream – what is the experience, where do your thoughts, your heart, gravitate? What are those thoughts, values, philosophies that have nourished you? Are there those that you continue to nourish?

My dreams play in my head like mini films filled with present situations intertwined with people, places, and events from my past. Fictional characters and critters make special appearances now and then. Sometimes I revisit a specific place that I have never been to during my waking hours. I dream in vivid color with extreme detail in the environments and expressions on people faces. I keep a dream journal and have used some of the entries as inspiration for shoot ideas. An example can be seen in my latest still and motion project “OtherWorldly SoulMates” - it's about an otherworldly couple arrives to both the living and fantastical animals through their otherworldly ability to exchange souls and reanimate the dead. The couple in the series are not unlike vampires, as they are immortal, but instead of blood they feed on love.

Importance is in the eye of the beholder. I happen to be a pop culture junkie and draw inspiration mainly from music and films that have strong characters combined with a distinctive visual style. Reaching into these inspirations transport you visually back to the overall vibe happening during that particular time regardless of the decade you tap into.I would describe my work as clean and graphic, with a pop of whimsical edge. I am passionate about creating iconic eye pleasing images that have a fresh look with just a hint of nostalgia.

A bit more background that fueled my life long obsession with pop culture…

My father was in the Air Force so we moved around a lot. The coolest places I lived were Okinawa, Japan and The Canal Zone in Panama. I think being exposed to different aesthetics & culture from an early age definitely had a long-term impact on my creative psyche. My first conscious memory of being obsessed with pop culture was when I was 3 living in Okinawa, Japan. I was way into Ultraman and on my first record player I spun 45’s of children’s songs sung all in Japanese. To this day I’m still obsessed with Japan, especially the street youth culture.

I lived in the Panama Canal Zone in the early 80’s, it was right at the birth of MTV. I felt left out because at that time there was no cable TV in the Canal Zone. In fact there was not much American pop culture easily accessible. You had to seek it out, so when you got some it was like finding gold. There was a home run video store that had a source from the states sending them hours of MTV available for rent on VHS tapes. I remember watching them over and over to the point where I knew what belts and shoes the New Wave bands had on. I would study their outfits and hairstyles, I watched so much I even had their mannerisms memorized. I look back and see myself as this American kid in a strange world. My sense of “home” was based on the US pop culture being fed to the rest of the world. This is how my brain is wired; I frame my world, dreams, and life inside this pop culture.

What is your current mission, what is the vision behind your work – do you have one?

I like to create thoughtfully art directed environments and scenarios for the people I photograph to spontaneously come alive in. Through my use of lighting, color, and artistic style I would love to have a person see one of my images and know, “Oh That’s a Michelle Pedone image”

In terms of your projects and process, what is it that you are most excited about at the moment? I have a couple of projects in the works right now. I am working on an ongoing series of dog portraits that are cropped like school yearbook pictures. They capture a humanistic expression that allows the viewer to stereotype them just as you would a person in a high school yearbook. It’s quite funny!

I’m also working on editing the clips from the motion portion of my Oh LaLa! Project. The series depict two privileged queen bee type girls, who both posses a whimsical playfulness with a mischievous edge. The stills are complete and I hope to have the short film done sometime soon. I am super excited to be working with video, as I’ve always been interested in making my pictures move. The accessibility and affordability technology presented allowed me to start experimenting with creating moving images, which brings my vision and the subjects I shoot to a whole another level. It gives the energy of my still images a pulse.