Summer in the City

Here are some shots taken with my new Sony RX100. Walking around my hood in Bushwick and visiting Roosevelt Island. A study of summer in the city.

Instagram, Love It Or Hate It?

Some people really don't like Instagram, I'm not saying that there's not a plethora of crap and spam on there, but there is also some really excellent photography on there. Some photographers use it almost as a medium, as one would use a Holga to achieve a certain lo-fi look. I see it more as a sketchbook, something to keep my brain thinking about composition, color and subject matter. With Instagram I've ventured into food photography and even almost macro photography, something I've never really bothered to explore with my SLR.

I don't see these works as final pieces and some I like more than others, but it's the same with my sketchbook. I take 99% of my Instagram photos with either the iPod touch or the iPhone. I always have either on me (as a lot of artists carry their sketchbooks and cameras) and I see it as an opportunity to share my work with a larger audience. So, if you don't already please follow me on Instagram @cristina426.

I have a love hate relationship with Bushwick, I really hate living here as a neighborhood, it's dirty, loud and expensive but I've found real inspiration in a lot of the industrial areas of this up and coming neighborhood. It's quirky and colorful, dirty yet also austere in its architecture. I've found such wonderful juxtapositions in Bushwick that it is a pleasure to photograph. 

Here are some recent "sketches" from the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. 

All of these images were shot with the iPhone 5 with minimal editing in the Instagram app.

From here down these images were taken with the iPod Touch

Modern Vanitas

I shot this series of images for a Nikon contest at B&H using the D3200.

And I made an artist's statement cus I'm a nerd...

Does "Modern Vanitas" sound too pretentious for a photo contest?

Photography itself, falls somewhere in between two binaries: Art and Science. In these images I tried to convey certain dichotomies with the over-arching theme of Science vs. Art or, one could say, Man vs Nature.

All of these images were shot in an East Coast Industrial city, most shot in Baltimore Maryland. I made use of the urban setting by juxtaposing it against the organic elements found there in line, shape, color and texture. Some images are almost one hundred percent "Nature" others are entirely "Mechanical" but, interestingly enough one can see how there is also a symbiotic relationship between those two elements. In some images, artificial items reference nature in their design or decoration, in other images there is hint of Man's Hand in an otherwise agrestal setting. Erosion, a natural process eats away at metal and discolors it, there are wild natural things taking over and wearing away at man made structures... It really is a modern Vanitas when you think about it.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn