Exploring Film With Cristina Juarez

When 25 year-old Cristina Juárez took up photography, it was not for artistic reasons but rather as a meditative respite from her studies.  ”My father gave me a digital camera about five years ago, and from that moment on, photography became an activity that helped me to take a break from my school activities. I found it very relaxing.”

Her casual approach to the art is surely one of the driving forces behind the overwhelmingly effortless sense of calm each of her images evokes. Be they snapshots of her friends exploring forest trails or portraits of horses waiting lazily in the Mexico sun, there is nothing forced or excessive about Cristina’s work.

After she became comfortable working with digital formats, Cristina has extended her reach to experiment with analog photography (the reversal of every photographer born before the 1980s) and her work now carries the saturated hues and unexpected light patterns of film.

“I have a great love for my digital camera because it was a special gift from my father, and I think this kind of camera offers a practical way to work—but sincerely I prefer film. I experiment every time I go to a photographic laboratory because I can expect many things. In each frame of film I can remember objects, friends, special moments and spaces.”

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  Cristina Juárez