INTERVIEW: Crime Scene Photographer, Nik Havert

Just this past weekend, I had Nik Havert in the studio for a portrait session. Nik is a close friend of my husband, Chad, and works as a police officer in the tiny little town of Nappanee, Indiana. During Nik's session, we struck up a conversation about his work as a crime scene photographer. As a small town police officer, Nik pulls triple duty as not only a patrol officer out on the back roads of Nappanee (watch out for those Amish horse and buggies!) but also as a crime scene technician and crime scene photographer.

While the background info may not be necessary to enjoy the interview, I thought I should elaborate on Nik's photo session as well as his other interests before getting to the video. Nik, in addition to being a police officer, is a fantastic writer. He's heavily involved in indie comics, graphic novels, and (oooh la la) some erotic fiction. If you would like more information on Nik's writing, please stop by the following links:

 www.picklepress.net

www.pickle-press.livejournal.com

You may also be wondering why Nik was in the studio for a portrait session... Well, Nik also hosts a local cable access show titled "Weird-o-rama." As the title suggests, Nik hosts all sorts of weird, creepy, and strange films. Most of these films are older and in the public domain. He also edits in a few bits of comic relief with old cartoons before the main attraction. However, Nik hosts the "Weird-o-rama" program as the character Victor Von Psychotron. The photo session was actually for promotional portraits of the character. I had a fantastic time coming up with ideas and then dragging Nik all over a local cemetery for the portrait session.

 If you're interested in checking out Weird-o-rama, then stop by the following link: https://www.facebook.com/WeirdORama

You can also stop by the Weird-o-rama YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/VictorVonPsychotron

So enough rambling on... I thought the discussion about crime scene photography was fascinating. I hope you do too!  (Please excuse the sound quality.  I'm a photographer, not a videographer.  This is why you don't use the preamps on a Canon T3i for your audio.  The original audio was super noisy so I stripped it, scrubbed it in Audacity, and then resynced the audio.  The results were only moderately better.  Next time, I'll use dual system sound for better audio.  Hey- you do what you have to do when you're under a deadline for your guest to leave and drive across the state to go to work!)  Keep scrolling WAY down to get to the interview after all the photos!

 Here is the interview: