Scott Allinson
I was born and raised in North Kingstown, Rhode Island and lived in the same house for most of my life. The concept of having one home for most of my life has crept into many conversations as a strange oddity, but I’m very proud of it. I think my pride has more to do with my sense of home, of roots, and a foundation than where or what the “idea” of home actually is.
I’ve been blessed with an amazing family and group of friends, as well as lucky enough to have mentors in life and business who helped me know what I want and taught me how to get it. As a business student at Rhode Island College, I traveled to over 35 states in about 4 years and earned a degree in marketing. I spent that time working, traveling, and learning whatever the world offered to me. I also spent several years in management at a historic movie house, the Avon Cinema, and an independent bookstore, College Hill Bookstore. It is here that I learned how to run a business. It is here that I met my wife.
On September 13, 2001 we were booked on a flight from Boston to Seattle for our first anniversary. We never made it. A month later I found myself in New York City at ground zero drawn to my nation’s wound. I had to be there to respect, mourn and document that day for myself. Those photos speak to me and me alone. This was the first time I truly saw myself as a photographer.
That experience helped convince me that Nichole and I needed to be in New York to pursue a dream of a life in the arts. We saved for 2 years and worked 5 jobs between us until we made it. Even then I did not see photography as the vision for my future. Why would I? I had a successful, established career in banking with Citizens Financial Group.
But in August of 2005, four years after our lost anniversary, we finally made it to Seattle. This trip changed our lives. We had one day to visit this western tip of the continental United States, but a heavy fog rolled into the foothills of the Olympic Mountains where we were camped; we were disappointed. Surprisingly, the fog and hazy sunlight revealed the most beautiful muted views of any coast I had ever photographed. The Native American lands of the Makah reservation yielded an incredible life changing vision: I am a photographer.
Today, I am successfully transitioning from the “American Expectation” to the “American Dream”. |
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Nichole Dingee Allinson
(a.k.a. Nichole Donje’)
All my life I have been an artist on a mission to find where I fit. As a chubby kid growing up in Southie (Boston, MA) I can’t say I ever thought I would become an actor and photographer
It wasn’t until I went to Rhode Island College that everything changed. My first taste of the theatre and the hands on passion of the art studio threw me forward and answered my questions. I am an artist.
I began taking photos years ago, fascinated with design concepts, composition, structure and form but, the affordability led me to choose a different calling. I became a set and lighting designer in the theatre; this led me to directing and then to becoming an actor. In the exploration of self that acting requires, I began to take pictures again searching for the beauty of soul in humanity and the environment. I fell in love with the landscape of life.
After moving to Brooklyn, New York and dealing with the trials of getting headshots, which in turn fired the process of discovering who I am and how I am seen, as well as how I am actually cast; Scott and I decided to open donje’ photography and focus on headshots with the philosophy of keeping them affordable. Knowing the struggle with headshots I have personally had and finally figuring it out, it is very exciting and fulfilling to help others to find themselves, who they are as actors, how they are seen and most importantly…what will get them work. It is to me the perfect marriage for my career.
I am, in soul, an artist. I have discovered that being able to capture a soul on stage or in a photograph is a gift I am blessed to have.
PLEASE VISIT MY OTHER SITES:
www.nicholedonje.com
www.theartistsplayground.org
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