[KELP JOURNAL] Your photos are so enticing, Chris. The minute I saw them and your use of wide- landscape oriented shots, I knew they were perfect for The Wave. Can you talk about your choice of picture orientation and why it works so well for pictures of landscape settings?
[CHRIS VALLEJO] Thank you so much for choosing my work to be part of The Wave!
When it comes to nature, before taking any photo, I love to appreciate with my eyes what’s in front of me. As an explorer of the world, I like to breath in and visualize all the colors and details that show up in front of me before I decide what to capture with my camera.
I always like to think of these landscapes as if they were a huge natural wallpaper and I believe that by using this horizontal orientation, I can grasp as many details as I can. I want to see the pictures I take and remember as many precious details as possible as if I were right in front of the scenery. It works so well because the photos have a beautiful balance thanks to the nature; the shapes, the colors, the textures are so well interconnected and visually creates a harmonious composition into the wide space.
[KJ] One of the other things that I love about these photos is your use of arcs. In each photo there is a wide sweeping arc that draws your eye from the bottom to the top or from the left to the right. I am curious about what drew you to capture those curves.
[CV] Natural curves are sexy, haha. To be honest, when I take pictures of landscapes, I usually rely on my instinct. Once I have visually analyzed what I want to picture I like to mentally portray something that my eyes will automatically find attractive (something not difficult, knowing that nature is gorgeous). Taking a look at my pictures, I think the use of curves allow the scenery to grow, regardless of the direction. It creates a sensation of growth into the space, of expansion into the universe, something I’m always drawn to project in my photos. I’ve always believed that landscape pictures are meant to absorb your eyes into the infinite. I like to create the sense of “getting lost in the enormosity” because that is what nature makes me feel like every time I find myself in one of these paradises.
[KJ] You are from Spain and these photos span the globe. When you travel, how do you decide what to shoot?
[CV] From the set chosen, 2 of them are from Asia: Busan (South Korea) and Miyajima (Japan), and the two other ones are from the north of Spain (San Vicente de la Barquera and Ribadesella). Honestly, every time I travel I become a photo freak. I like to capture almost everything new I encounter so I can share it with my family or friends. I love to appreciate things that are different from the world I live in, things that my eyes are not used to. I don’t know if I’ll ever visit these places again, so my photos are my beloved storytellers of the fascinating places I traveled to.
[KJ] I always love to ask artists how they got into their preferred art forms. What is your origin story? How did you get into photography? What drew you to this art form?
[CV] I’ve always been an artistic person, even at school I loved literature and even won some prizes with my stories. I was a fan of the ink and the paper and also loved traveling so much with my parents. My family would always enjoy my innocent pictures, so one day I just decided to change my hobby and started with photography. I had never taken any photography lessons nor anything, so you may say the world is my teacher and I go with the flow. Today I can say it’s one of the most rewarding passions I have in my life, one of my favorite hobbies along with music. Having discovered that my phone camera had an amazing resolution, I decided to go out and create my own stories. I love photos because they have a never-ending meaning. Literally, you can express whatever you want in different forms, there is no right or wrong, it’s just the way you perceive it and how you want to express your world into the world. MY world.
Chris Vallejo was born under the delightful sunshine in the coast of Barcelona. Her muse is Mother Nature and the little details that fill with pleasure the beauty of the unexpected. Wanting to take a glimpse of the beauty in this world, she decided to narrate those intimate moments between her and Nature through photography. Her art has been published in Montana Mouthful, Azahares Spanish Language Literary Magazine, and Hispanic Culture Review.
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