Kristina lives in Southeast Ohio, a transplant loving a slower paced life after growing up in the Megalopolis that is Southeastern Virginia.
(Writing this in the third person is just too strange...)
My parents gave me my first camera on March 1, 1989. I remember the exact date because it was the day my sister, Kendall, was born. It was a little pink thing (the camera, not my sister) and I was fascinated and excited from the moment I tore into the packaging. My father told me that it was a gift from my new baby sister and he hoped I would take lots of pictures of her. I made good on that promise, and continue to do so 25 years later. After all, she is a beautiful subject!
I had the honor of taking some photography classes in high school in Chesapeake, VA, and am still proud of some of my projects from those years as I started to hone some of my skills. Sophomore year of college I even took a job in a photography studio doing mostly family and children's portraits. It was a fun job that I mostly took for granted though it did introduce me to one of my best friends. Life is funny though, and as I started down other paths in college, I got further and further away from my love of photography. Eventually technology changed and and with it my idea of photography became completely enmeshed with my cell phone. It wasn't until my grandfather passed away in May of 2014 that it occurred to me how far away I had gotten from one of my first true loves. I was sitting on the floor of my grandmother's bedroom pouring through old family photos with my sister, mother, and aunt when it hit me: "When did we get away from taking pictures? I mean...REAL pictures. Not on our cell phones...but with a camera...that we print out and frame or place in an album..." I started thinking about the hundreds of pictures on my Facebook page. I hadn't taken a single real photo in probably close to 10 years. The thought was sad to me...I had to change this! I asked my husband for a nice camera for my upcoming birthday. Being the amazing husband that he is, he delivered and I haven't stopped driving him crazy since.
Taking my camera out into the world has pushed me to start looking at the world from a different perspective again; something I had lost somewhere along the way in this show of life. I love to tell stories. I love to learn about other people's stories. I love to take pictures that make you wonder about the story behind it. I love history. I've been exploring our little town more and more, finding new places, and meeting new people. Somehow being behind the camera has brought me closer to the world around me again. It gets me out of my own self-centered bubble and helps me see the beauty all around me.
After all:
"It’s no easy road
this struggle and strife
We find ourselves in the show of life" (Phish)
(Writing this in the third person is just too strange...)
My parents gave me my first camera on March 1, 1989. I remember the exact date because it was the day my sister, Kendall, was born. It was a little pink thing (the camera, not my sister) and I was fascinated and excited from the moment I tore into the packaging. My father told me that it was a gift from my new baby sister and he hoped I would take lots of pictures of her. I made good on that promise, and continue to do so 25 years later. After all, she is a beautiful subject!
I had the honor of taking some photography classes in high school in Chesapeake, VA, and am still proud of some of my projects from those years as I started to hone some of my skills. Sophomore year of college I even took a job in a photography studio doing mostly family and children's portraits. It was a fun job that I mostly took for granted though it did introduce me to one of my best friends. Life is funny though, and as I started down other paths in college, I got further and further away from my love of photography. Eventually technology changed and and with it my idea of photography became completely enmeshed with my cell phone. It wasn't until my grandfather passed away in May of 2014 that it occurred to me how far away I had gotten from one of my first true loves. I was sitting on the floor of my grandmother's bedroom pouring through old family photos with my sister, mother, and aunt when it hit me: "When did we get away from taking pictures? I mean...REAL pictures. Not on our cell phones...but with a camera...that we print out and frame or place in an album..." I started thinking about the hundreds of pictures on my Facebook page. I hadn't taken a single real photo in probably close to 10 years. The thought was sad to me...I had to change this! I asked my husband for a nice camera for my upcoming birthday. Being the amazing husband that he is, he delivered and I haven't stopped driving him crazy since.
Taking my camera out into the world has pushed me to start looking at the world from a different perspective again; something I had lost somewhere along the way in this show of life. I love to tell stories. I love to learn about other people's stories. I love to take pictures that make you wonder about the story behind it. I love history. I've been exploring our little town more and more, finding new places, and meeting new people. Somehow being behind the camera has brought me closer to the world around me again. It gets me out of my own self-centered bubble and helps me see the beauty all around me.
After all:
"It’s no easy road
this struggle and strife
We find ourselves in the show of life" (Phish)