Interview with Photographer Sierra Petrocelli

I got the chance to chat with photographer, Sierra Petrocelli, about the inspiration behind her work, her process for shooting, and what she plans to explore next. Sierra is a student at Pratt University’s Brooklyn campus, majoring in photography with a minor in bookmaking. She alternates shooting in New York and back home in Oregon. You can find her work online at sierrapetrocelli.com.

Sierra’s work transcends any sense of time or space, and takes you somewhere that feels otherworldly, adjacent to ours. Each photo has a dreamlike quality that makes you feel as though you’re recalling it from a distant memory. Her work is deeply focused on girlhood, punctuated by the youthful feeling of discovery found within coming of age.

Here is my interview with her (edited for readability).

How did you get into photography? Is it something that you've always wanted to do?

I’ve always loved cameras since I was really little, but I got a Polaroid when I was in third grade. I didn't start doing shoots until I was 13. Half my family was living in Vermont while my dad and I lived in Massachusetts due to my parents' jobs. I felt very alone that year, so I started to take self portraits and experiment with Photoshop. They were horrible, and to this day I can’t believe I posted them for the world to see, but I think it’s funny. It was a way for me to step out of my life and make a new reality, which continues to be a part of my photography.

Your work has a lot of surrealism to it, it doesn’t feel staged but almost like it’s from an alternate dimension. Does that happen naturally or is it something you try to capture?

When I shoot I’m not thinking about that, but I like when my photos feel like the real world, but almost a second version where everything feels super free and kind of daydreamy. I use, and have always used, photography as a way to step out of my own life and into one of my daydreams. I like creating a girls' world where we are free to roam.

It’s very instinctually dreamy. Do you plan shoots?

If I get myself into a really strict plan, it never works out. When I overplan a shoot I’m never satisfied with it, so to avoid that I normally make a vague plan which includes: a location and a small mood board- to give me a place to start, and I’ll often tell the girls somewhere between 3-5 colors they should include in their outfits.

What specifically do you try to convey through your work?

I like to make photos where I wish I could just live in them, or other people could live in them, with a sense of nostalgia or longing.

Is there an overall theme to your work or do you feel it comes through on a shoot by shoot basis?

I definitely have an overarching theme of girls. I only shot with girls until two or three weeks ago when I shot with my coworker. I have an ongoing project titled Unspoken Understandings which also gets portrayed in my work. I very much see everything in images, and I’m not great at explaining them while I’m shooting, but it ends up happening organically, where I’ll photograph the model moving at their own pace interacting with their environment. I think it makes the pictures more interesting. I like capturing people as they move through space.

I saw you stated Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures as an inspiration. What in particular inspired your own work?

She was introduced to me the fall of my freshman year by my black and white film professor. Girl Pictures was introduced as something related to what I was doing, and I became obsessed. Mainly because it was the first series of girls I had seen that was focused on an adventurous side of them, and not portrayed in a magazine kind of way. One of my favorite and most intriguing parts of Kurland’s photos is how they are staged, but feel documentary, which made me obsessed with that type of work.

I am also inspired by Mary Ellen Mark, her series of the girl Tiny inspired me to start my series of Sage and Lottie, my sister and friend. I now shoot with them everytime we all visit home. I plan on documenting them for as long as possible throughout our lives.

Are there any themes or feelings that you resonate with most from her work? And is your inspiration mainly from other artists or do you find it from everyday life as well?

The unifying feeling of her work- even though there is something happening in each photo- feels quiet, like there’s no dialogue. Justine Kurland and Mary Ellen Mark are probably my top two inspirations. But I also get inspired by just walking around and being at an art school. As corny as it sounds, I’d say I’m inspired by everything. My artistic style is mainly influenced by other artists, but my ideas come from books, conversations, school, and many come from the girls I shoot with, who I often bounce ideas off of before shooting. It’s never purely just me.

I feel like youthfulness almost saturates your photos. Like the people are on their own journey, discovering and being open to the world that they live in, which I thought was really cool. Does your daily life reflect this sense of discovery?

I think I am at my happiest and most inspired when I view the world in the words you just said. I'm always trying to be in the present. I feel like I struggle with that a lot- I don't know if photography helps or not, but noticing small things through photography can help with being detail oriented. My second, more personal Instagram account is where I post smaller moments from my everyday life. I try to appreciate everything.

Where do you want your photography career to go? Is it something that you want to keep pursuing after college?

Yeah, I'm constantly thinking about that. I definitely plan on sticking with photography if I'm able to. I would love to work in magazines, specifically less studio, more like photos that might go along with interviews where it's supposed to be someone in their space. I hate studio work- I don't hate it. I just hate doing it myself, but I definitely plan to keep shooting, keep reaching out to people. A photoshoot I did with the creator Sotce was featured on Interview magazine’s website, which felt surreal.

It's interesting being in school because it’s preparing you to be a gallery worker that exists in a very professional space and not magazine work, which can be kind of restricting, but I feel like school has helped me with critiques and shaping my style. They just show you such a small select world of art that makes you think your work should look like that.

Was there any specific person or place or even a general theme that you want to explore next or work with?

In school right now I'm doing a project based on home, because I've moved a lot in my life, so I wanted to do something using old family photos. I've been making collages, but that's a very- beginning of the project, so I'm not sure where it's going to go. It's weirdly gone into a theme of birds. So I've been obsessed with birds recently.

You can find Sierra on Tik Tok @breeezzey and Instagram @sierrabreeeze.