“I’m an expert at creeping myself out and I don’t believe we are ever alone. A lot of my experience lies in my own head because we all have to face it…the human mind is the scariest thing alive…”
Photographers can be found anywhere. Heck, I can take a picture with my iPhone-edit it-then upload it to facebook in 2 minutes. However, what I can’t do is train my brain or eyes to function like a highly-skilled artist such as Christina Deare.
Christina can capture that fraction of a second, the perfect ambiance, and the right blend of whimsy and uneasy. When you see her masterpieces you will understand for yourself.
Contact her if you are searching for your own photographer for your next project. If you are looking for that perfect picture for your Attraction and your advertising online or offline Christina would be glad to help you!
Were you creative as a child? Can you remember when you first noticed your eye for Art?
You told me you were a student. Where do you go to school?
I’m currently a junior at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, though I take the courses online and live close to Hammond, Louisiana. I’ll graduate in 2013 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and an emphasis in Commercial photography, though I take courses in Fine Art, too.
Do you have any other passions besides Art and Photography?
My one true passion is literature. I am an avid bibliophile and I collect books and antique things (including antique books). To furnish my own home through thrift stores and antique shops, whenever I get to that point in my life, is something I’m determined to do. I’m also in the midst of collaborating with Sarah Drago, an extremely talented writer who also happens to be my cousin, on a collection of short stories set in Louisiana that will hopefully make you smell the swamp water on your own skin. After all, I’ve been writing far longer than I have been doing much of anything else and it is what inspires my work as a photographer, since I am essentially just substituting my pen with my camera.
I like the edge you bring into your photography. Do you have experience in the Haunt Industry or do you gather inspiration from somewhere else?
Haunt experience is hard to explain because I don’t really disconnect haunt from non-haunt, if that makes any sense. Every day of my life is as creepy as I can make it. Living so close to New Orleans and being able to experience the culture from birth, I always feel like the strange and unusual is both in the air and, for that reason, always in my head. I can say I live in a very…unique house, yes, because anyone that has ever spent a long time here will agree. I can say I have been a fan of horror since I was little and frequent anything that has the word “haunted” in it, but I don’t know if that can be considered anything. I do spend the majority of my time in the forest and abandoned homes, however. I’m an expert at creeping myself out and I don’t believe we are ever alone. Like I said, a lot of my experience lies in my own head because we all have to face it…the human mind is the scariest thing alive.
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Do your friends support your skills and feed your passion for creativity?
I live with my girlfriend of five years who will be starting her schooling as a special FX make-up artist in the next few years and has been practicing it on her own time for a while now. One of my good friends from school, Alex Williams, is also a very talented film student who works mostly with horror. We feed off one another. No pun intended.
Where do you want to be in your career in 5 years?
I stopped giving myself long term goals, but, if I had to say, I’d like to be in the midst of my first novel (if not finished with it), working with real estate agents and bakeries shooting food and interiors and, in my spare time, paying attention to the conceptual portraiture (which is where you’ll find my darker work) I first fell in love with. I’ll be holding my BFA from Academy of Art University in 2013, so I also hope to be keeping up with paying off all those loans!
For aspiring artists and photographers, what advice can you share for harnessing your creativity and standing out in a competitive industry?
Note: there is no such thing as an aspiring artist. Being an artist starts in the brain and with your thoughts, even if you aren’t exactly working as one. However, for those aspiring to be successful, there are two things I think everyone should remember:
1. Success is a matter of perspective.
2. Do what the hell you want.
You don’t always have to do what everyone else is doing. Do what you feel you have to. If that is to create, then create. Actually, don’t stop creating. I don’t care if you’re just frosting a mason jar with glue, just produce something, even if it’s not something you can sell or add to your portfolio. Keep your hands busy, yes, but keep your mind busier. I’m not nearly as successful as I want to be — or anywhere close — but in this way I’ve accomplished so much that no one will ever understand nor see.
Resources for dark artists?
Tumblr! Tumblr and Flickr are amazing sources of inspiration. Also, a library. Read! Read Poe, read King, read Bradbury, read Gaiman. Read, read, read. The darkest images of all will come from that of a page, I assure you.
Find Christina Here:
- Website Portfolio
, 3 days out of Makeup school, and got a call to come on and be a gofer for the key makeup lady. Got paid 35.00, worked 15 hours and the crew nicknamed me “Bloody Mary” that night. I had done all of the blood application that first night to the doll house that they were going to blow up. It was the start of my career and the beginning of my new identity, Bloody Mary: The Makeup Lady.