Award-winning photographer Natalie Christensen (@natalie_santafe) says her focus is "ordinary settings, seeking the sublime." She deconstructs these settings to color fields, geometry and shadow, and her work has been featured in many noted fine art publications and exhibited in U.S. and international venues. We came across her Alpha Universe Profile and connected with her to learn more about her work and the inspiration behind it. Read her story below and create your own Alpha Universe Profile HERE for a chance to be featured on AlphaUniverse.com.
Photo by Natalie Christensen. Sony Alpha 7R II. Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/100-sec., f/11, ISO 100
See how this psychotherapist by training uses psychological ideas, color, geometry and shadow to transform ordinary settings into sublime images.
Career Snapshot
My career has been as a psychotherapist, and it wasn’t until I moved to New Mexico that I developed an interest in photography. That was around 2016. I started sharing images on Instagram and developed a following for my work quickly. I started getting some notice from galleries who reached out about representation, and it took off from there. My energy has been focused on exhibiting my work internationally in galleries and museums. In 2021 I was published by Setanta Books and continue to focus on opportunities to exhibit and publish my work.
I am interested in exploring psychological ideas and symbols in my work and using found moments in urban and suburban spaces as my canvas. The challenging aspect of this is that it requires a lot of searching as I don’t set up these scenes. It is important for me to move beyond “architectural minimalism” and really say something with my work – that is the most challenging for me.
Photo by Natalie Christensen. Sony Alpha 7R II. Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/200-sec., f/10, ISO 100
My Go-To Sony Gear
The Sony Alpha 6000 was my first camera in 2016 and I had never owned any camera before, so it was a big learning curve in the beginning. I taught myself to use it and found it to be a good match for my shooting style. I decided I wanted to move to a full frame and went to the Sony Alpha 7R II with the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master lens. That was a great move for me because it allowed me to print my images much larger.
Photo by Natalie Christensen. Sony Alpha 7R II. Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/60-sec., f/16, ISO 100
What Photography Means To Me
Photography has opened up my world in countless ways – I have met friends around the world and had experiences I would have never had otherwise. It has been a path to a different kind of creativity I never imagined and allowed me to express myself through a new visual language that doesn’t require words.
See more of Natalie Christensen’s work on her Alpha Universe Profile and on Instagram @natalie_santafe.
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