After starting as an assistant photographer to Patrick Demarchelier, in 1980, she branched out on her own and focused on portrait photography and photo-reportage. Her work has appeared in many publications, including the New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Le Monde, and Le Nouvel Observateur, and is featured in the collections of the Musée Européen de la Photographie and the FNAC (Fonds National d’Art Contemporain). The New York Review of Books 2009 Desk Diary features 53 of her black-and-white photographs of novelists, poets, and playwrights whose works have been reviewed by or who have have written for the publication. In recognition of her contributions to the arts and literature, Nabokov was made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Letters). In the fall of 2012, Nabokov was the Marina Kellen French Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy.