CHRIS DELORENZO

I was born in 1995 in suburbia, Basking Ridge, NJ. We were shadowed by the greatest place on earth, New York City. Family trips to the “city”, as we called it, were exhilarating. Venturing from a sleepy town where the nightly summer soundtrack consisted solely of cicadas, to the madness of the city less than 30 miles away, was for lack of a better word, explosive. I think that is where my love for both worlds comes from, this exposure to such opposite ends of the spectrum.

I loved being a kid and vow to never give up the creative and joyous aspects of that age, where one goal is at the forefront of the rest, happiness. I was obsessed with making everything with no reason other than to create. I would make forts out of whatever I could get my hands on - boxes, leaves, snow, sand. I designed cars in 4th grade - full sketches and diagrams pulling everything from things read in books, magazines and encyclopedias. These sketches had solar roofs, double wishbone suspensions and (naively) steam engines. I was a sponge, learning as much as I could, as fast as I could.

After drawing and sketching to a subpar ability, around 10 years old, I stole my parents' camera. “Wasting film” and avoiding homework was my new agenda. I was captivated. The camera was the vehicle that showed me a world unseen and I later found it became a way to gain the most intimate access to life itself.

My parents could not have been more supportive growing up. A father who instilled business and leadership, and my coach in most sports, and a mother who let her boy be a boy. I played in the mud, dug for worms, fished, swam in the ocean until my skin was dry and lungs salty, and probably more mud. To be honest, nothing has changed.

I couldn’t stand high school, where we were pushed so meaninglessly to choose a college before knowing what our passions really were. The classes that actually fascinated me were chosen at random and I didn’t get into Photo 101 my freshman year. Instead of waiting to learn about the basics of the darkroom, I befriended the photo teacher, asked to borrow his large format 4x5 personal camera and taught myself the rest. A Mark Twain quote can sum this up best, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.” I attended a college in Los Angeles for a single semester before dropping out to pursue internships and assisting for a year where I learned more in those 12 months than I ever thought possible. Soon after, I realized again that I had the itch to learn the rest on my own.

I am absolutely fascinated by this planet because I was fascinated by just a small state in America. If there was this much to see, to feel, I had to explore the rest of the planet. My work is a culmination of seeing this world and feeling all things new to me to then share with you. I currently live in New Jersey with a few too many cameras and a usually muddy ’98 Toyota Land Cruiser. My time is split, often barefoot, for work and play between California, New York and the backwoods of the southeastern U.S.