She's an Andorran-based photographer capturing the effervescence and beauty of daily life in each image taken. Recently showcased in Lodown's Issue 71, she is also the face of international beauty company Les Ettes, representing their latest collection Want-Ette. We at Champ caught up with Crista in Berlin during Bright Tradeshow, and got the scoop on the latest, this girl is one to watch!
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Hi Crista ++
As always- your photos are amazing.
Thanks!!
Firstly, who or what was the first thing you remember photographing?
I think it was a bird at a zoo on a school trip or maybe my cat...either way, an animal, no surprise there.
Your photos reflect a curiosity and old-school nostalgia - does this reflect your personality too?
Haha yeah, totally. I'm really nerdy about history. I think in an ideal world I would love to have lived through the late 60's and seventies, it's such a visually beautiful period as well as being a time of change, people started experimenting with completely new ways of thinking, they were passionate about what they believed in, we tend to be a little anaesthetised now. But I'm just being nostalgic!On another note, I'm definitely interested in those nebulous memories, warped by the passage of time, that create a sort of collective nostalgia. I like the concept of trying to give a face to a word, in my opinion, nostalgia is inextricably linked to beauty because as humans we like to make our lives and our memories more beautiful, no?
What's your camera/s of choice? And do you prefer digital or traditional film?
I generally work with a Hasselblad 500 C/M, my uncle used to use it in the seventies, so it's pretty old school. I've recently purchased a Nikon FE2 from the eighties, I'm insanely happy with it, I think I'm going through a 35mm phase whereas last year I was fascinated with medium format. I love traditional film, I don't personally think that digital captures the same amount of emotion as film does, there's something so much more complete about film. Having said that I do work in digital as well and depending on my mood, I might select it over analogue, it depends on the result I'm looking for.
Following your style of dream-like images, you're moving into darker moods, shooting exclusively in black and white- whats the inspiration and vision for this change?
I had a bit of crisis this summer, it was slightly triggered by the use of the digital camera for a shoot and I felt the images looked too cute and shiny, it didn't feel right. It's important to think seriously about what inspires you and what kind of images you want to create and to not get lost by what is 'expected' or others are doing, I think this happens a lot once the line between work and personal projects becomes fuzzy. I'm inspired by travel, mythology, dreams, femininity, history, and I wanted to get back to that state in which your inspirations become slightly obsessive, so black and white is somehow like starting from zero again, it's stark and strong. It probably has something to do with going into Autumn as well, in Spring some of the photos I was taking were ridiculously over optimistic, now it's time to come back down to earth hhaha.
You work closely with Les Ettes and are currently representing their latest Want-Ette collection. How did this unique partnership come about?
I met Claudia (Les Ettes marketing guru and all round incredibly creative and fun girl) a few years back in the snowboarding scene, and we kept in touch. Over time Claudia and I became good friends and I met the other Les Ettes girls, Carmela and Silvi, and we all just clicked and got on so well. Les Ettes is a lovely family of talented, determined, creative and individual women, they don't even mind me passing out in their booth during tradeshows! So being asked to represent one of their perfumes has been a massive honour and so much fun.
What beats do you listen to while working?
My boyfriend's band (http://resonans.tumblr.com/) beach house, broken bells, bear in heaven, band of horses, fleet foxes, deerhunter, active child um lots of joy division, bauhaus, the smiths, stone roses, edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, crocodiles, Miami horror etc etc When I'm working I tend to get obsessed with one song and listen to it over and over again, this week's has been two dancers by wild beasts, I think by next week I'll never be able to listen to it again!
Thanks Crista!
xo
All photos courtesy Crista Leonard
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