Jackson Free Press

To be 19 years old from a small town outside of Petal, newly married and living in "the big city" provides opportunities to see things other people take for granted. Jackson isn't far from photographer Natalie Bancroft's home outside Hattiesburg, where she was born in her grandmother's house, but it is an urban metropolis compared to her rural stomping grounds.

Urban distractions might have impeded Bancroft's keen observation, a skill essential to a photographer. Her photographs capture the essence of objects she sees, often in a more direct, unflinching way than the rest of us, it seems. A black-and-white photo entitled "Broccoli" exudes all the broccoli-ness of broccoli, stem over stem in the pan without the benefit of green. We sense the color and smell (as the picture is framed from nose height) because the image calls up our own experience of broccoli.

Art begins at the provocation of the viewer: ordinary objects take on new meaning and require a second look. "I photograph everyday stuff that nobody pays attention to," says Bancroft, a delicate young woman with flowing brunette hair. "Architect, a Color Photograph" glows with the true blue of electricity—we hear the faint hum buzzing through the neon lights as they race around the rounded curve of a building, juxtaposing the relative ease of bending glass tubes and the art of rounded masonry. Born from the same sea of blue, "Blue Lights on Blue Bottles" changes the focus to an unexpected organic form as the lights transform the bottle into an anemone like creature creating dissonance between appearance and reality—this is a picture of a bottle, after all.

Bancroft first picked up a SLR camera at age 12 or 13 but was discouraged by the outcome of the pictures. "I didn't understand how to use it." She put it away, as any self-respecting, ego-conserving teenager would, but was thankfully called back to it three or four years later.

"I photograph what catches my eye," Bancroft says. "I see so many amazing photographers in their 40s and 50s, and I want my stuff to look that good now. But I know it takes time; I'm still learning." Her job at Photo Images provides the perfect balance of nurture and encouragement for a growing artist. Bancroft enjoys her role in customer service because she sees the photographers she helps improve with time, and loves being part of their development (no pun intended).

In November, Bancroft's new series "Delta Life" will hang at the Cups downtown in the AmSouth building. Bancroft recently discovered the richness in the Delta and was surprised to discover that "it is a whole different world up there." Sunflowers, rice fields, and catfish wells capture her imagination and ours in her new series of sepia and color photos. Bancroft definitely has an eye for composition and aspects of everyday objects we so easily miss, but she also has the tools to express what she sees. Her mastery of the camera and her wisdom beyond her years bode well for this young, creative photographer.

When not hanging at Cups, Bancroft's eye-catching photos are always on display online at http://www.artgaga.com