The story behind axelavista...

French photographer living between London, Paris and NYC. 

Shooting Analog on a Pentax MX 35mm and Digital on a Canon Reflex 550D. 

Open for artistic collaborations. Feel free to contact directly on Instagram/email.

All rights belong to © Axel Avista, 2023.

Has the emergence of Smart Phones and Social Media killed Photography?

Throughout his work, Axel Avista attempts to reconcile his passion for photography as a fine art with the medium's ubiquity in our modern society.

Axel started his journey in photography over a decade ago, letting his natural curiosity and love for architecture be the guiding forces behind his first digital shots, generally set in urban contexts. Around the same time, Axel was becoming increasingly interested in photo editing, which he saw as a new level of creative expression to layer on top his street photography. He thought of this new medium as an opportunity to move from being an active observer to becoming more of an architect of his own photographs, drawing the lines that would form their light and shapes. The Reconstructed Spaces series is the epitome of such attempt. 

More recently, Axel started engaging in studio photography and portraiture. With full control over his subjects, lighting, and settings, he got to discover yet another level of creative contribution to master. Working in a studio also enabled him to polish his technical abilities, whilst sharpening his own personal style as a creative director.

In parallel, Axel became increasingly absorbed by shooting on film, embracing the esoteric and meticulous analog process. He would come to see it as a complete anachronism in a modern culture that has normalised bursting pictures with smart phones. In his latest series, Axel combines his background in street and studio photography, and collaborates with his subjects to capture parcels of their lives from his Pentax camera. 

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