Crissie White is 16 years old, lives in Seattle, Washinghton and is currently a highschool student. She works for designers, musicians, magazines and independent films. Besides photography she takes ballet and ice skating lessons.
What draws you in photography?
I love being able to show things to people, I can’t draw, paint, or sculpt so naturally, photography is a good way to express myself. However I think it’s unfortunate how the camera is like a portable window… I’ve noticed that once you put it up to your face you isolate yourself from the situation and instead of being part of it, you become an observer. I often joke about how I never enjoy anything because I’m never a part of it. Often I will put my camera aside and refuse to be a photographer for that day.
In many of your pictures there is a strong surreal and magic element. How do you define your relation with reality in your photography?
I like to twist reality in many of my photographs such as my “dreams” series, it’s fun for me as a photographer to create stories. I would love to make films for this reason, it’s so interesting to me that you can take a normal place and make it look so different in a picture or movie. Besides twisting reality however, I like to try and expose it as well. I’m constantly taking candid photographs of people or photographs of places around me of things that remind me of how raw and peculiar our world is.
Are your pictures dark or romantic, I can’t really decide.
I hope my pictures are both dark and romantic! Μaybe even a little bit quirky.
What are you currently working on?
I am Currently working on doing fashion-oriented photo-shoots over the next several weeks so I have more variety to my portfolio for marketing and things like that. I’m also going to start a project soon called “24” exposures, and this project is going to be shot using all 35mm b&w film, and each roll of film will be telling a (faux) story about a character I create. I’m doing this to expand my creativity skills and to work on seeing things clearly so that they translate perfectly in one picture.
What are your future plans?
Short-term I am planning on going to a pre-college program in New York for The School of Visual Arts, and developing my portfolio further. Long term I hope to move to New York for a few years, get my feet on the ground, and then travel as much as I can. I hope to make a career out of photography or something related like set design, prop styling, or creative directing.
Link: crissiewhite
Interview: Dafni Anesti
