Cristina Hoch
Personal Biography
Crisitina Hoch is only 26, but she taught herself photography when she was only 16. She is from Spain, studied at the University of Granada, and is now a biologist. Her love of the natural world shows in her photos. She was the Winner of the Lomographic Odisea in 2011 and the Luz De Primavera in 2012. She also reached the finals for the Combocarte in 2013 and twice for the Quesabesde in 2013 and 2015.
Style
Hoch takes portraits, mostly of women. The photos tend to focus on the faces, with leaves or flowers in the edges and background. This leads to an almost magical look to them. the subjects tend to have be white, have dark freckles, messy brown hair, and look at the camera. The age varies from little kids to young woman, but rarely older than that. The face takes up almost the whole of the photo, and if it isn't the remaining space is taken up by nature, like a field the subject os lying on, or the forest behind them. The lighting is also darker, leading to mysteriousness to everything.
Philosophy
Hoch believes the two most beautiful things in the world are nature and honesty. She tries to convey both in her photos, which she can easily do because her subjects are mostly friends and family. She puts them in poses that she knows they are comfortable in, and that also show their personalities and who they really are. And she also makes them look like some sort of forest fairy with the setting, like in a pile of leaves or staring at a river. Hoch has also published several pictures of girls kissing, which shows she probably is or supports lesbians, and uses her skill and followers to spread that support.
Influences
Cristina Hoch has mentioned multiple photographers she admired. The first, Nirrimi Firebrace did a lot more than portraits, but the ones she had were similar to Hoch's. They had less nature, but the same lack of light and intense emotions. Another, Melania Brescia, is a fantasy photographer, and you can certainly see the mysteriousness coming off of her and Hoch's photos. Hoch also mentioned Fanny Latour Lambert, Alison Scarpulla, and a quote from Aaron Siskind: "Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."
Crisitina Hoch is only 26, but she taught herself photography when she was only 16. She is from Spain, studied at the University of Granada, and is now a biologist. Her love of the natural world shows in her photos. She was the Winner of the Lomographic Odisea in 2011 and the Luz De Primavera in 2012. She also reached the finals for the Combocarte in 2013 and twice for the Quesabesde in 2013 and 2015.
Style
Hoch takes portraits, mostly of women. The photos tend to focus on the faces, with leaves or flowers in the edges and background. This leads to an almost magical look to them. the subjects tend to have be white, have dark freckles, messy brown hair, and look at the camera. The age varies from little kids to young woman, but rarely older than that. The face takes up almost the whole of the photo, and if it isn't the remaining space is taken up by nature, like a field the subject os lying on, or the forest behind them. The lighting is also darker, leading to mysteriousness to everything.
Philosophy
Hoch believes the two most beautiful things in the world are nature and honesty. She tries to convey both in her photos, which she can easily do because her subjects are mostly friends and family. She puts them in poses that she knows they are comfortable in, and that also show their personalities and who they really are. And she also makes them look like some sort of forest fairy with the setting, like in a pile of leaves or staring at a river. Hoch has also published several pictures of girls kissing, which shows she probably is or supports lesbians, and uses her skill and followers to spread that support.
Influences
Cristina Hoch has mentioned multiple photographers she admired. The first, Nirrimi Firebrace did a lot more than portraits, but the ones she had were similar to Hoch's. They had less nature, but the same lack of light and intense emotions. Another, Melania Brescia, is a fantasy photographer, and you can certainly see the mysteriousness coming off of her and Hoch's photos. Hoch also mentioned Fanny Latour Lambert, Alison Scarpulla, and a quote from Aaron Siskind: "Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."
I think this picture turned out really well. My sister's expression is really close to the original, and I edited the background to try to be closer to the original. The expression was similar, so I focused on the small details, like changing the color of the microscope to match the original and the dark lighting. It was super hard to not make my sister's face look bright red. The biggest difference is the purple nails. I tried to find a way to hide them, but couldn't. Instead, I darkened them so they looked like they just belonged in the photo. Overall, I think it is pretty similar.
I really liked the In Bloom photo, and I also knew I had similar flowers. I used my little sister for the photo, but her face was much thinner than the original, so I had to get some of her hair in it. The earring is not in the original picture, but I liked it a lot in mine (she also isn't allowed to take it out yet). I darkened it and tried to make the lighting as similar as possible. I also really wanted to show how the eye wasn't looking at the camera, even though it was the focus. The flowers are a different color, but I made the buds whiter to match the original. I didn't find a good way to make them green because of how thin they were, but overall I think they are very similar.
Quiet |
Dark Green Grass |
The angle was very awkward to take a photo from, but it does look very cool. My brother didn't have a black shirt, but he did have a grey sweatshirt that I tried to darken. It was hard to have my brother's eyes be open enough to see they were open without looking really weird. I also sprayed the grass with water to try to copy the dew, but that failed. I did manage to darken the grass, and the expression is correct. I tried to use the dodge tool to have the same lit face. Overall, I think they are very similar.
Artist Statement
All of Cristina Hoch's photos are beautiful, so it was really fun to try to capture the same thing. Using my siblings made it harder, because they are much less mysterious to me. My favorite photo is Flower Girl. I feel like every part of it adds to the overall photo, and I also spent the longest trying to get it right, so it was such a wonderful feeling when my hard work paid off. in Dark Green Grass it was fun to find the perfect color for the grass, and try to make it look like it was set in some fantasy world. Rebecca was great to try to angle the microscope. I tried to tell the same mysteriousness that I interpreted Hoch's photos as trying to show, of people who you know are in this world, but it all seems too magical to not be in a book. Whether or not I succeeded, I am too involved to tell. When I look at the photos I see the effort I put into it and my brother or sister. But I can see I made some beautiful photos.
Sources:
https://www.feeldesain.com/expressive-portraits-cristina-hoch.html
https://cristinahoch.tumblr.com/about
https://121clicks.com/showcases/cristina-hoch-fine-art-portraits-by-22-years-old-spanish-photographer
Images:
Header Background: a dream by Crisitina Hoch
https://cristinahoch.tumblr.com/post/184153589642/a-dream
Judith by Crisitna Hoch
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteface_greeneyes/41321131831/in/album-72157695111658744/
In Bloom by Cristina Hoch
https://cristinahoch.tumblr.com/post/183048512447/in-bloom
Quiet by Crisitina Hoch
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteface_greeneyes/44969763824