Elizabeth Nowicki

Photographs taken spring 2024 in Maine.

Here is a collection of portraits, landscapes and various scenes all photographed in southern Maine.

After living in NYC for 6 years (and about to lose my shit), I decided to move to Maine in June of 2018. I am still trying to adjust to this new place. However, it’s not new to me at all- I have been coming to Maine every summer since I was a child (excluding the one year when I was in high school and wanted to stay home in PA and hang out with my friends). My dad was (is) self employed, so we stayed all summer- it was awesome. It was very different than were I lived throughout the school year in rural Pennsylvania. I had my family, my friends, the beach and a whole lot of freedom from my parents being off the radar as their middle child (aka they were too worried about my older teen siblings getting into trouble, and my two toddler brothers probably hurting themselves). I had your typical American kid summers growing up. So, back to the story about why I am in Maine- my parents honeymooned here almost 50 years ago, bought a condo and offered me to stay rent free for a summer in 2018 until I figured out what I wanted to do post New York. I stayed there until the spring of the following year.

This place now has a different feeling about it. I mean I obviously like it here, the salt air is reviving, people are friendly and it’s an interesting place aesthetically. I find myself alone (a lot), which is fine. I feel like I have been social distancing myself for the past couple years to be quite honest. I don’t know, maybe I have had too much time on my hands and got a little homesick and “stopped” making work. Also, winter is fucking forever here (I like the heat) and I have not been inspired.

Then I sat down at my computer and started going through images that I have essentially dumped onto my computer from my SLR and not really did anything with them besides share the occasional photo on the gram, or text a nice shot of this beautiful place to a far away friend or family member. It’s been said and done before- pictures of people and landscapes, I get it. I’ve heard the phrase, “photograph what you know” a million times, but honestly that’s what works for me. I take pictures of people that I spend time with and places that I surround myself in. I like to look at real things, and feel emotions and create a sense of nostalgia for my audience. This series is about me looking at Maine not just for the picturesque lifestyle that so many people chase all summer long.

Maine is definitely worth a visit, but sometimes I find myself asking- is it worth a lifetime? Struggling to define the word, “home” in this phase of my life. However, I am grateful for the people who have opened up their lives and homes and welcomed me here. Many of those people are on my list to photograph next!

I hope you enjoy this curated body of work from 2018 until present. It’s a small glimpse into my current life.

Beth

“The best part of my life was watching my children grow up. Time went by so fast, I didn’t realize I was aging with you.” -Dianne

A body of work about my mother. Looking at her through the lens as my mom, but also looking at her as a reflection of myself- two completely different individuals. I have a very close relationship with this woman, and it appears as though the both of us are trying to discover her new identity after a few years of “empty nest syndrome”. She seemed to be living life in the fast lane while raising 5 kids, supporting a family business(es) with my father, maintaining her own personal goals and then all of a sudden- it’s just my dad, her and the dog all alone in a big empty farm house. When I look at these photos of my mother I get emotional, I can see right through her. I want to look at her differently, I want to let her know I am grateful for her.

She is right, where did time go?

Pennsylvania

A selection of street art in New York City.

Detaching myself from materialistic items. Letting go & growing up. 2014.

Color study of the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. July 2013. 

Summer 2014 landscapes of the beach taken at Coney Island, New York & Kennebunkport, Maine.