At the tender age of just 16 years, Alex Currie is an established photographer, videographer, and web designer. Spending most of his time with his camera, he escapes to the woods with his tripod and camera remote and takes unique and refreshing images. His concepts are rich and brilliant, and the use if light in his photos is amazing. The intense creativity of his mind shows through his photography. His use of props, garbs and accessories give his photos an identity and distinguish them from the works of other artists. Alex has been shooting since he was eleven. By age fourteen, he was into serious web design, video production and website start-ups. Recently he completed an internship at a film studio and began working on his 365 project. Let us know a bit more from the artist from himself:

Hi Alex! Introduce yourself:

My name is Alex Currie and I’m a 16 year old high school student from Buffalo, NY.

Since when have you been into serious photography, Alex?

I took up photography last year as a way to convey stories through a medium other than film/video. Right now I’m halfway through a 365 project where I take one conceptual portrait every day for a year.

Why did you choose the genre of conceptual photography?

Conceptual photos take up a majority of my work. I think every photograph, be it nature, landscape, portraiture, or any other category, tells some sort of story. Conceptual photography really dives into that aspect and it becomes possible to create a work of fiction through a single frame. There’s such strong emotion embedded in these types of pictures and it never fails to draw me back into it.

Tell us about your method of taking pictures:

Planning, shooting, and editing all share an equal importance in my general workflow. Without a plan, there’s no story, without a shot, there’s no photo, and without an edit, it simply isn’t finished. I try and produce as much as possible straight out of camera for the point of authenticity, but it’s not always possible to rip open your stomach and watch butterflies fly through the air, which is where Photoshop comes into play :)

Every creative teenager with a camera is into fine-art/conceptual photography. Why this urge?

Yes! I like this question. Fine art photography is definitely becoming more and more popular these days and it seems like everyone keeps on shooting the same 10 concepts again and again. I’ve heard it said that “there are no original ideas”, and even if that was true, the intriguing thing about art is interpretation - a hundred people could produce work around the same idea and I’m absolutely sure no two would be the same.

Tell us about the location where you head to with your camera:

I live in a suburb of Buffalo, NY, which blends a unique mix of city and rural area. It’s nice to be able to escape to the woods near my house but still be within walking distance of civilization. The biggest challenge for me, though, would be the snow and cold - I find it’s pretty difficult to spend more than an hour outside in zero degree weather.

And your favorite photographers?

I could ramble on for an hour about all of my favorite photographers, but a few off the top of my head are Alex Stoddard, Oleg Oprisco, Jerry Uelsmann, and Lissy Elle Laricchia.

I am sure another teenager reading this post will follow your art. Offer him/her some tips:

Shoot! No matter what kinds of limitations you’re facing, take photos as often as you can and challenge yourself to improve.

Alex Currie links: Website * Flickr * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Note: All images appearing in this post are the exclusive property of Alex Currie and protected under the International Copyright laws. Their copying and reproduction in any manner is strictly prohibited without the express permission of the owner.