This last month I was featured in Cada Dia un Fotografo! This publication is a catalogue of editorial photographers and fine art photographers from around the world. A Spanish language blog, each day they feature a new photographer. Last month, my editorial photography was highlighted. Cada Dia un Fotografo wrote a little feature on me and linked back to a handful of other places I have been published.
The image they featured is from a series I did eight years now (Happy New Year!). This series was called “Mortar Shells and Cigarettes”. Taking place in Sarajevo, I spent over a month wandering the streets of the beloved city. Documenting life in the 15 year anniversary of the war ending. To see more of the work from the series, head over to my website to check out the photo essay. And be sure to head over to Dada Dia un Fotografo to see this feature and many others!
Published at: 02:12 pm - Wednesday December 20 2017
I have a new gallery of editorial photography on my website! There are some old photos and some new ones on there. Images from past adventures as well as some work for editorial pieces I’ve done over the last year or so. It will be a blend of some lifestyle photography, editorial photography, and outdoor photography. Let me know what you think! Feedback is always welcomed.
I have a little calendar that I work on bigger goals throughout the year, piece by piece. Revamping my website was a goal of last year and I just put it on the calendar for next year. Be looking for more updates, new galleries, and some personal work!
“On Signagi’s main street, wines glitter like jewels in their makeshift bottles — soda, water, even mustard.”
Nearly two years ago, writer Jen Kinney and I went to Georgia and Armenia in search of a story. We weren’t sure what kind of story, or what we would even find there. Ultimately we stumbled upon one of the oldest wine making traditions in the world. Growing over 500 varieties of heirloom grapes, and harvesting them to make homemade wine in the basement. It is a tradition that dates back for years. In an attempt to create government wine programs, the USSR made homemade wine processing illegal. Many people shut down their home wine cellars by filling them in with soil, only to be recovered years later, full bottles and all.
“Christine stands, lost in thought, eating a clutch of grapes. When she’s exhausted all the dull little globes, she flicks the spine into the apple trees outside our guest house door. It hangs in the air a fish skeleton, and lands out of view beneath the heavy boughs.”
During our trip to Georgia and Armenia. We found stories, we made images. And then we did not know what to do after that. I have done bits of work for MisAdventures in the past, and they contacted me to see if I had any editorial food photography I could include in their printed magazine. Each issue they have a food section. Sometimes featuring recipes, sometimes featuring food adventure stories. In the summer 2017 issue, our story was featured.
“Christine and I, frequent travel partners, are tired and full with the traditional Georgian dinner they’ve served us: soapy white cheese that squeaks in our teeth, salt-encrusted fish, a salad of cucumber and tomatoes too spicy for us to finish, a bowl of grapes for desert. Now our host points to a tree hearty with tense green balls the size of eggs. He pinches off two and crushes them together against his chest until they burst their shells and give up two pale, green, thumb-sized brains. “America, America,” he says, and we eat the ripening walnuts. This young, they are not just rinsed with bitterness, but bitter through and through.”
It was a bit of a strange story. It was a bit of a strange trip. Jen sums it up beautifully (all quoted lines in this post are from her). She explores tradition and what is feels like to be a foreigner in a place you know nothing about. I will post a handful of images below. Some where used and others were not. But for the words, you will have to find the article in print.
“Then, wandering the streets of Telavi at sunset, a woman gestures to us from the second-story balcony of a tilting, wedding-cake house. “Coffee?” she offers. We follow her… [the family] smile at us gently, like we are strays they have not yet decided to keep.”
Christine Armbruster is an editorial food photographer in Portland where she makes documentary images for commercial clients. She does a lot of editorial food photography for various magazines, cookbooks, and food companies. To see more of her work, and other editorial projects around the world, please visit her website.
Over the summer I got the chance to travel with the Girl Scouts of America to Greece. I have had the opportunity to guide trips and photograph them for the Scouts for the last handful of years. These girls aren’t just from Utah, but from all over the country. We spent the week sea kayaking around Kefelonia and Ithaca. Camping, staying in small towns, and eating the most delicious food. It’s great to spend the time with the girls, but also feels like I’m on a documentary photography vacation. Being able to photograph whatever I want, however I want. It feels like a week or two of developing my style and doing personal work. Here are a few images from the week that I was particularly fond of.
This was my second time in Greece. I finally felt like I got it this time. I think my first trip to the country, I was stressed out about the girls and couldn’t relax and take it all in. This time around, I am hooked. The amazing food, the shark-free crystal clear waters perfect for open water swims. I would easily return to this country over and over again.
To learn more about the trips, you can visit the ATS website.
Christine Armbruster is a Portland, Oregon documentary photographer. She creates editorial style travel photography, going around the world to make photojournalistic images for commercial clients in the outdoor and food and restaurant industries. To see more of her work, visit her website.
Over the last year I have been doing a lot of work for Hanz. Traveling from Alaska to Lake Powell to photograph, I have had the opportunity to photograph their products in a lot of places and in a lot of different settings. If you haven’t checked out their products yet, I would recommend it. Totally waterproof gloves and socks. The added bonus is that the gloves are not only touchscreen, but they are touchscreen gloves that actually work.
I’ve been a part of a revamp they have done on their website as well in marketing materials. The first image is from their website. The remaining images are from marketing materials I picked up at Outdoor Retailer last month. I will be a bit sad to see OR move to Colorado next year. It has been a really great experience to talk to many different companies. Over the last couple years I have been able to meet with people I have only e-mailed with and see them on a bi-annual basis. Looks like I will have to go to Colorado twice a year now for the show!
During the Great Depression, the US government created handfuls of programs to help keep people employed. From these programs, railways were built, public lands maintained, and a major project was undertaken called “Federal Project Number One”. This project consisted of five categories: art, music, theatre, writing, and a historical records survey. The most famous of the Federal Writers’ Project was a series created called “The American Guide Series”. Each state created guidebooks on their home, employing over 6,000 writers and photographers. The books had history and cultural aspects, as well as common touristic automobile tours, important attractions, and photo essays.
There is a group creating their own modern version of The American Guide Series. It’s a website, undertaking a spin-off of the original Guide. Using documentary photography works from various photographers, they have created an on-line catalogue of places and events across America. It’s a fun way to digitally explore areas before you visit, or find places you’ve never heard of before. Oh, and why you’re at it, check out the write up they did on my small towns project in Utah, Population 800.
Population 800 is a personal project I have been working on for the last seven years. If you want to see more work from my project, you can find it on various other blog posts and galleries. A couple examples of where to see the work in the past and present:
I’ve been setting goals the last few months to gradually update my website. Slowly and surely I have been revamping one gallery at a time, trying to update all my portfolios. This past month my goal was to update my food photography portfolio. I have spent a lot of time this year photographing food. I did a cookbook, shot on a farm, photographed the culinary side of a resort, and photographed for a handful of restaurants. I would love to expand this line of work a bit more and continue to shoot food. I love the culture around it, and the stories that can come out of food all the way from farm to table.
To check out my new portfolio, take a look at my website. While you’re there, check out some new projects I just put up as well. I always love feedback, so if there is anything you see that needs improvement, let me know!
While in Alaska last winter, I got the opportunity to photograph for Hanz. They are a waterproof sock and glove company that I have been doing commercial photography for on a few shoots now. This shoot took place in Juneau, Alaska. It was great to be able to go out on location and use their products in a new setting to me, both in terms of location as well as in terms of concept.
I really love the idea of hunting and fishing photography. Not necessarily because of an interest in those things, but more so in terms of an interest in the story behind those sports. I love the story telling possibilities associated with the sport. We were off season for this shoot, so actually catching something wasn’t an option. However, I had a great little shoot and got to experience a beautiful river on Douglas Island near Juneau. Perhaps next time I will actually get to be out on a proper fish or hunt.
I went to Alaska primarily for a documentary project for Allied Feather & Down. It was really great to be able to shoot for a few clients and double up on this trip. It not only made the trip more affordable for a few companies, but also gave me an excuse to be in Alaska for a long time. I ended up spending 11 days in Alaska. A day scouting location, two days shooting, and then the rest in Hoonah. This is my second time to Alaska in three years. I think I am going to have to make a bi-yearly trip North. Next time: the Arctic Circle.
Massive thanks goes to Jason, the model who not only helped suggest this location, but had incredible stories of bears and Alaska life. Plus, anybody who can catch king crabs and put them in his sea kayak with him is solid in my book. To check out these gloves and get a pair of your own, check out their website.
It’s been a while since I have been to Russia, and there are quite a few reasons why I have been pushing this project off.. but I have finally finished my travel documentary photography essay on Russia. This project, which I have named “Made of Steel” is a little photo series and essay that I put together from my time in Russia with Tree working on our project Kreesha. I will be publishing these images (as well as a handful more) on my website soon. In the meantime, please head over to Huck and check out the editorial photography story I put together for them.
Made of Steel is a story of single industry towns in rural Russia, left behind when the Soviet Union disbanded. “Monogorad”. These towns were made for one purpose, and when the USSR fell apart, handfuls of these towns survived by private businesses and people buying factories, but others were left without any economy or direction. This travel documentary photography story is of these towns. Of what happens to them and what they look like now.
To view a history of this project, you can head over to our Kreesha website where Tree and I blogged of our adventures all along the way. You can also see a bigger gallery and learn more on my website.
I was recently listed on The Remote Life as one of the top 24 travel photographers to watch in 2017. It was a really great write up featuring many talented photographers around the world working in the travel industry. The featured image of mine was from a photo series I did in Bosnia called “Mortar Shells and Cigarettes”. This series was a personal film photography project I did a few years ago. I recently updated my website with an easier to navigate gallery of these images with full captions. Click here to see the documentary photography project and well as an updated gallery from travel photography I have created all over the world.
Christine Armbruster is a Utah travel photographers who works all over the world doing commercial photography for a variety of clients. Whether lifestyle or food photography, she blends her documentary style with her commercial background to create authentic imagery for all clients.
