Photographer Feature: Natalie Kristine Castellanos

Hola!  I'm Natalie.

I am a 25 year old Gemini, US-American by nationality and Cuban-American by culture. I grew up in South Florida and have been living in Buenos Aires since the beginning of 2010, studying the law at la Universidad de Buenos Aires with a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation -- the sole purpose of which is to zealously make friends, relentlessly pursue my dreams, and spread peace and goodwill all around the world. : )

  This photo was taken on the first trip I took after moving to Buenos Aires -- 3 friends and I went to El Calafate/El Chalten in Argentina's Patagonia. One our second day we went for an all-day hike to catch a glimpse of Cerro Fitz Roy, but, alas the peak was cloud-covered. Regardless, it was a breathtaking view! The clouds obscuring our view looked like they were painted onto the brilliant blue sky. 

This is one of my favorite photos ever!! In May my mom came to visit me in Argentina. I took her to Tigre, which is an upper-middle class town on a rather large and lazy river about an hour-long train ride north of Buenos Aires. By the end of the day, my mom was tired and wanted to return to the city, but I couldn't get enough of the eerie light that cast its glow on the docks bordering the river as the sun set. I was intent on aligning the lights in the top-center of the photo and didn't notice until I looked through the photos later that evening I had captured the  gentleman with the cigarette on the left. I find myself returning to this photo often... he is an enigma  --  facing away from the river, hand gripping the railing, ostensibly staring ahead at something... the mystery of this man is magic!

I took this photo in El Bolson, Argentina in July of this year. El Bolson is a tiny hippie town, tucked into the most beautiful mountains in the world, about 2 hours south of Bariloche, in Patagonia. My soul stirred so much when I arrived in this town. I felt so alive and peaceful; I am pretty sure when the Big Bang occurred billions of years ago, the pieces of the universe that created me where mingling with the pieces that created the mountains here. This town is famous for its homemade jams, ice cream and beer (deservedly so!) and its weekly artisan fair. I love this photo because it captures the essence of El Bolson's magic -- I really did feel like I was caught up in a dream when I was there. 

This photo was taken in Peru, on the site of one of the many Incan ruins surrounding the city of Cusco. My friends – Sabrina and Alice – and I fell in love with Cusco and the legacy of the Incans within minutes of arriving in the city in the sky (literally -- it's 11,000 feet above sea level!). The altitude and the beauty of the scenery left us breathless and dizzy.

 I took this photographic recently, on the rooftop of my friend Rajiv's building in Palermo (Buenos Aires's hippest neighborhood). This was the warmest day we have had in forever so my friends and I decided to spend the day in the sun drinking sangria. It was a spectacular day with a sunset to match! The beautiful man in the photo is my friend Chase. I like him a lot because he's intelligent, a great conversationalist, uses really funny English and Spanish phrases, and most of all, is a fabulous and patient model for photographs! 

You can find more of Natalie's work on her awesome blog at http://nataliekc.blogspot.com/.  The link is also in the sidebar.

El Calafate/El Chalten, Argentina

Tigre, Argentina

El Bolson, Argentina

Cusco, Peru

and

Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina