We recently connected with Crystal Wood and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Photography is one of those things that you never really master per se in my mind’s eye. I feel like it is one of those crafts that you will be continuously learning until the day you die. It’s also one of those forms that constantly change the way light changes, your subject changes, your medium or equipment can change – and then you’re back as a student again learning something new and how to best communicate your message.

The best way I can say that I learned how to be a photographer, was just by doing it. I still have to this day one of my first photographs I ever took on film framed in my home as a reminder of where I’ve come. It’s a simple black and white image of my mother’s hands pouring tea. I remember us having a conversation in the kitchen after I had received my first film camera, a Minolta XG-1, and asking her to pause freezing the moment in time.

Learning photography, I realized is all about learning to SEE. It’s about learning to notice how light moves, how people communicate in their movements, facial expressions, the way they walk and carry themselves. I’ve found in shooting portraits the most important thing about capturing an impactful image is less about what camera you use, or what film – but rather it’s about your subject being comfortable enough for them to allow themselves to be seen by you.

I think If I understood this earlier in my creative process I could have created more opportunities for myself. I find myself now taking moments to ask questions, get to know my subject, telling jokes and encouraging laughter and connection when I take portraits to relax my subjects and help them submit to the process.

I think some obstacles that stand in your way as a photographer is constantly thinking you need better equipment, a faster film, a more expensive lens, but all of these are opportunities to speak in different way. It’s about you learning to adapt and rather than fight against your medium, figure out what each benefit they can present and finding a way to make it work for you in the moment.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began photographing casually when I was 13 shooting self-portraits mostly. I used to bike around my neighborhood with a tripod and find various spaces and corners to shoot images of myself in different environments and outfits. This theme of self-exploration through photography continued into my days of pursuing a photography degree in college inspired by the likes of Cindy Sherman and others.

I eventually tired of taking images of myself so I began seeking friends as subjects for my growing curiosity of creating images. My practice of photographing myself gave me a better understanding of how movement and how to advise those I photographed to help free them into comfortably expressing themselves. I also enjoyed the study on how we as humans interact with nature and our environments.

I now work as a photographer and graphic designer within the corporate retail industry. I use my insights of observation of light, shapes and visual hierarchy I learned in photography to better inform my design work. In my free time I still pursue shooting portraits and headshots as my main passion, but with the strange turn of events in life, I now find myself shooting mostly product photography within my work environment. Product photography was an entirely new learning in the subtleties of light on surfaces and creating emotive environments in such a small space. I as a photographer of 20 years, now find myself again as a student and expanding my understanding of capturing images.

One thing I’m proud of in my journey as a photographer are the consistencies I see across my work no matter the subject I’m shooting. Whether it’s a portrait, a travel photograph of lands newly discovered, or photographing diamond jewelry – I still see a subtle whisper of softness and poetry across all I do. Finding ways to emit an emotive feeling of expression using light and the nature of the object to inform me what it wants to evoke.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist and creative is the ability to communicate in a way that transcends all language and barriers. An image doesn’t utter words in the way we do to transmute an idea, but rather reveals it in a way that speaks to a deep heart understanding that exists in all humans. It has the power to tell a different story to every person who views it which varies on their own stories and experiences, delights and understandings. What freedom and excitement I find it that!

Have you ever had to pivot?

My current job now was a bit of a pivot of where I thought my path would take me. As I stated previously my current employment is as a graphic designer with a side aspect of photography. It’s a new learning for me on how both elements inform each other in the marketing world to tell a story to sell a product or idea. There’s the idea of art for art’s sake, and then there’s the job of creating images to sell a story, a product and make the viewer find a bit of themselves within it which makes you think in a new conceptual way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.crystalwood.co/
• Instagram: @crystal.victoriaa
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-victoria-wood