Jazmyne Colbert

Poet & Photographer

My name is Jazmyne Colbert; Artistically I go by RikCol. It’s the first three letters of my middle name and the first three letters of my last name put together. I am 23 years old and I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and I currently reside in New Orleans, Louisiana.

You're a poet and a photographer, in what ways would you say, is poetry and photography similar and in what ways are they different?

I love this question because I incorporate my two passions as one in the bio page of my website. I state that by being a spoken word poet I am able to captivate the words of poetry into visuals. In a way, I feel like I speak two different languages, one of the eye and one of the mouth meaning I possess the eye for my profession whilst being able to vocalize my vision fluently. My ability to vocalize whats in my heart so fluently helps a lot with visualizing my shoots, and in return I can easily explain what my eyes are seeing because my words speak what my imagination sees.

Did you grow up in an artistic family?

I wouldn't say I grew up in an artistic family per say. My mother wasn't into art at all and my father was a singer/musician but he wasn't in my life so I didn't get to experience art through his eyes besides listening to his music and reading old poems he wrote to my mother back when they were younger. In school I was always playing an instrument. I played drums, cello and guitar. I was also in choir and my brother and I always wrote music together. I do strongly believe that my love for music, writing and just art in general came from my father, even though he wasn't around I feel like in spirit he definitely passed down his ear for music and his ability to write so fluently.

How did they react to you taking an artistic path and how have they been in terms of support?

Now as far as how my mother felt about my passion for music, early on she hated it because she didn't want me going through certain disappointments that she saw my dad go through when it came to getting record deals or being seen. But now, she loves my poetry and my photography and she's proud of how far I’ve come. When I dropped my first spoken word video she was very happy. So as far as support she’s definitely all in now.

Are you in school?

No. I am not in school. I believe so much in self taught knowledge. Everything I know about photography I’ve learned on my own and through my best friend, Darryl. Same with graphic design, completely self taught and am still teaching myself till this day.

One thing you'd never conform to?

One thing I’d never conform to is religion. I just believe that religion is a made up ideology to make us believe that theres some type of structural purpose to life and death. My spirituality became me when I chose to drop what was forced upon me by books someone wrote. My beliefs will not be synthetically birthed from what someone/something has told me how to live but created and rooted from the experiences I live, the souls I encounter, the soil from under my feet, the sun that kisses my skin and the air that I breathe. I am my truth. And I never loved myself more until I followed My Truth.

Would you say you are more of a poet than a photographer?

Definitely not. I believe so much that both of my passions balance each other out perfectly. They help each other. I get inspiration for a poem by looking at a beautifully photographed piece and I get inspiration for shooting by trying to make my poetry come to life visually.

When did your passion for poetry start?

It started when I was very young. I’m talking third grade as far as I can remember. I wrote my first book in the third grade and my mom always kept old poems and writings of mine through out the years.

What does being creative mean to you?

Being creative means being alive, feeling alive. Being creative means putting life into your passion.

What does being artistic mean to you?

Being artistic I feel is almost the same as being creative. Art is life; I construct my pieces with the intentions of opening ones mind to a deeper realm. I'm helping people see that pure display of raw emotion is nothing but strength and power.  Being an artist and creating is being alive. We’re all creators. Some of us just aren't aware of it.

Can you write a short poem that includes the words; art, you, passion, anger and wandering in it?

“My passion is everlasting/ word assassin; Fasten anger to the thoughts that are matching/ Spirits wandering but catching fascination of what is told by RikCol who is fasting to gain greater KNOWledge of what it is to KNOW.”

How do you get your gigs in both poetry and photography?

I do a lot of self advertising and social media marketing to get my photography gigs. As far as poetry, its all about going to open mic nights finding venues or events that host shows and sign up for them; which I need to get back to doing.

What kind of camera do you use?

As of right now I am shooting with my Canon Rebel T6i. But I will be upgrading to a Canon 6D Mark II very soon.

You've worked with/alongside artists like Migos, Chris Brown, Trouble Man T.I and so on, would you say music, in a way, is what influences your craft? Or is it the type or style of photography you mostly prefer?

Music definitely does have an influence on my craft. I love music. If theres something I’m always doing, its listening to music. As far as shooting for concerts; its a rush and thats what I love about it most. It really gets my blood pumping. Concerts are definitely one of my favorite events to shoot. Theres absolutely nothing I can compare that feeling to.

Which of your pictures do you deem it necessary to put your own stamp on, like a watermark?

Honestly it really depends. It’s all a feeling for me, sometimes I’ll edit an image and spend days on it, throw it in photoshop and really get creative with it. When that happens I tend to feel for emotionally attached to that piece and I’ll throw my watermark on it. I can definitely say that whenever I shoot an artist I always use my watermark because people are so quick to snatch up a photograph of a singer or a rapper and slap it on their fan page, blog or online magazine. So those will always have my watermark for sure.

Working with big-name artists, do you feel any pressure at all to act different or be different?

Not necessarily. I mean its a bit nerve wrecking but I’m always and always will be myself in any occasion. I let my confidence carry me.

Do you usually write down ideas for your work (both in poetry and photography), plan out the execution and all or is it more of a "here's a moment, I'm capturing this right now, I'm living in the moment" kind of thing?

As far my photography I typically tend to not write out my ideas. If I get inspired and I’m in the position to where I can go out and shoot I will, right at that moment. If not, like if I don’t have my camera on hand I’ll normally just store that feeling of inspiration in the back of my head. Inspiration never leaves my brain so I never forget ideas. With my poetry I like to use my voice notes if I come up with a line that I like that I want to keep adding to but cant find the words at the moment or if I hear something that inspires me and some words come of it, I’ll open my voice notes and record them. I never stress about my art. Its endless and beautiful.

Your biggest supporter?

My biggest supporter at the moment is definitely my boyfriend, Joseph. He’s always motivating me and encouraging me, makes sure my head is in the game. He’s my creative canvas. I say that because whenever I’m feeling super creative and I want to get out there and shoot he’s always my muse. I’ve created some of my greatest pieces with him as my muse. So that’s why I call him my creative canvas. He gets my mind going. Takes me to a deeper place.

Also, my brother/bestfriend Darryl. Without him there'd probably be no photography career for me. He's one of the main reasons I had enough courage to go out and buy my first camera a year ago. He's taught me everything I know and was my first model I ever photographed.

What influences your poetry?

My love for people and spirituality. Almost every single one of my pieces I’ve wrote were about someone who has inspired me deeply and left a great impression on my heart and soul.

In what ways would you say you relate to other poets?

I’m sure all poets can relate in the way of getting people to realize the empowerment of self expression. Thats the beauty of poetry, raw emotion.

Some of the things you feel your images should always have, with or without editing?

Images should and will always have depth behind what you're seeing. There is always a story behind every image I produce. My spirit is in this and my spirit is expressive, bold, and colorful so with that, you will always see the depiction of one of those words if not all inside each of my pieces

My truth is self love, self growth and evolution. I believe it all starts from within. Everything you need to know about life is within you. Falling in love with me has opened my eyes to so much. I didn't know how to properly love someone else, until I fell in love with me. I see the world in a different light.

When it comes down to broccoli all it means is that I need to get to this green $$$.

I stand with integrity.

My neighbors dog is barking too loud, I should go to their house and ask them if I can give their dog some attention.

Last year of high school was a huge learning experience.

Jazmyne Colbert (@rikcol)

by

Sinqobile Sibiya

JANUARY, 2018