THOMASVILLE — Taking photographs with a cellphone camera is as common as white bread.

But the photographs Thomasville’s Nathalie Tremblay is capturing with her iPhone 13 are no ordinary fodder used for social media posts. She has an artist’s eye, capturing unusual perspectives of ordinary views, such as a cobblestone street in her hometown village of Chicoutimi, Canada.

Tremblay, who moved to Thomasville with her Minnesota native husband in 2022, will be one of 11 N.C. female artists showing their work at The Finch House. The free opening night reception will be from 5-8 p.m. April 20.

Tremblay’s passion for art photography began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when she offered to help her husband, Sean Tremblay, market the yachts for which he was a broker. She began staging them and taking photographs for the company’s websites and social media. The company loved her work and asked if they could hire her to do all their marketing photography.

Soon, she began seeing the beaches, piers and buildings with a different eye. On their trips, she was compelled to wait for hours for the perfect light to take pictures of rivers and mountains.

“It just happened,” she said of turning her interest to becoming an art photographer. “I just started taking pictures of everything.”

On a day trip to North Carolina, the couple fell in love with the state and decided to move here.

“North Carolina has mountains and beaches and everything in between,” she said. “It’s beautiful. And we fell in love with the people, too.”

She’s been busy capturing the landscapes and skylines of North Carolina since arriving here. For the art show, Tremblay will share three large-format photographs: of the Kure Beach pier, a view of Linville from Grandfather Mountain and a cobblestone street in her Canadian hometown, which is about six hours north of Montreal.

“It’s my passion,” she said. “I am constantly learning with each picture. It’s a thrill to come back and look at he phots on my large screen to see what I got. It’s magic. I think a picture is something that should bring out emotions.”

Tremblay said she takes hundreds of shots when on-site, hoping just one is the image she wants. When she was at Kure Beach under the pier, she spent hours there with the water coming in closer until she was soaking wet.

“But I got it,” she said. “I got the perspective I wanted.”

Many folks who view her photographs are surprised to learn Tremblay uses an iPhone and not a Nikon or Canon camera with dozens of lenses.

“I’ve been asked so many times what camera I use,” she said. “They can’t believe I use my phone. But with a painter who uses a brush to paint, is it the brush or the artist that made the art? The camera and the brush are just objects.”

The All Women’s Art Show will be her first art show but not her first time sharing her photographs with the public. She showed and sold her work at Everybody’s Day in Thomasville in 2022 and will be at the Barbecue Festival in Lexington in October.

“I want to thank Andrew (Clement) for organizing this event,” she said, referring to the owner of The Finch House. “I appreciate what he is doing not just for me but for everyone to have this opportunity.”

Clement said that other artists who will be part of the April 20 show are Pam Baldwin of Thomasville; Leslie Powers of Thomasville; Yolanda Grier of Greensboro; Tammy McDowell of Thomasville; Sarah McClintock of Greensboro; Dana Holliday of Thomasville; Hilary Clement of Greensboro; Faith Scott of Winston-Salem; Angie Rose of Greensboro; and Sami Stinson of Thomasville.

“Before the pandemic, we hosted several art and artisan events, and we are excited to showcase all of these fabulous and talented local artists on April 20,” Clement said. “There are so many talented women artists that we know, and we want to showcase their work. My wife, Hilary, has been a painter for 20 years. We had a gallery in downtown Greensboro in 2017 representing over 35 local artists. Most of her work is on display and for sale at The Grandover Resort in Greensboro.”

He noted the Grandover gallery is run by Davidson County native Pam Sink.

“Dana Holliday is one of our best artist friends and is such an encouragement to all people who create and love art,” he continued. “She is co-hosting this event and is our connection to all the Davidson County artists participating.”

Clement said he enjoys helping artists gain new audiences for their work, and being married to a painter gives him an insider’s perspective to artists’ dedication.

“The public has no idea the time it takes for an artist to hone their craft over the years,” he said. “They pour their hearts and souls into their work and then share it with the world. There are not that many opportunities in our area for artists to display and sell their work.”

The opening night reception for the art show will feature live music by Marte Maney. Also, artist Stinson is hosting a Paint and Sip under the reception tent, which is a ticketed event. The $35 tickets are available on eventbrite.com. A cash bar will be available.

The Zollverein coal mine and industrial complex in Essen, Germany, has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 2001. In 1986, work in the mines was stopped. In 2015, Dutch documentary photographer HJ Hunter travelled through the raw post-industrial landscapes of Belgium and Germany. The photographs reveal the impact on an area and its residents if large industrial companies close and the local economy has to reinvent itself. Once Upon a Time can be ordered in bookshops or online at the author’s website. All photographs: HJ Hunter

Following this, Jack began conducting research, upon which he uncovered the transformation the city was going through. Such change was mainly being driven by the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium, which has funnelled masses of money to the area. But, Jack quickly realised this financial gain wasn’t exactly being consciously utilised. “New high-rise flats were constantly being built down the road but I started to wonder who could afford them,” Jack says. “To me, the stadium resembled a UFO that had landed on the high street. I started to use it as a metaphor for gentrification and the worry people have of being priced out of the area.” Residents of Tottenham weren’t taking such changes lightly, however, and Jack encountered numbers groups and individuals fighting such inequitable gentrification.

It was important for Jack to avoid a “candid street photography approach”; instead, he wanted to get to know and collaborate with the people he photographed. “I was very aware that though I had grown up in the area, I was now coming at the project from an outsider’s perspective,” Jack identifies. The photographer leads our attention to a photograph of Ken, the estate in the background blurred, the image puts Ken centre stage, as he gazes into the lens of the camera. A prominent activist, Jack explains that Ken has dedicated his life “to fighting police injustice and racial profiling” and is chair of Haringey’s Independent Stock and Search Monitoring Group. After taking his photograph Jack spent the day with Ken at the local police station going through records of previous stop and searches in Haringey, “looking for irregularities in how the police are conducting themselves”. This is perhaps what makes the series so powerful; it evokes a the feeling that behind every portrait and every landscape image lies a complex story.

While White Hart Lane deals with difficult and disheartening issues, Jack really hopes that the series is one that overall exudes a sense of hope. “In times of uncertainty and social unrest, it can be easy to feel helpless,” he says. “However, this project has only shown me the good in people and the feeling that we are so much stronger when surrounded by others.” Ideally, after viewing his series, Jack hopes people will come away with a new appreciation for the communities that surround them. “The only way we can hold on to a place’s identity is to first acknowledge and celebrate it,” he ends.