Jamie Kripke Photography - Boulder Studio

Jamie Kripke grew up in suburban Toledo, Ohio, the son of an artist and a businessman. His mother handed down her used Minolta SLR when he was 15, which led to his first job as the high school newspaper photographer. He has been making pictures ever since. Jamie has a BA in Philosophy from the University of Colorado.

China is a country of 1.4 billion people. When I visited in 2008, its economy was growing at ten percent annually. They were frantically preparing for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing. The centuries-old infrastructure -- both physical and social -- was being torn down and rebuilt at a rate as staggering as the quantity of resources being consumed.

The Rhine River has long been the location of disagreement, conflict, and war. It is also the subject of one of the most expensive photographs ever sold. That photograph, by Andreas Gursky, was formative for me as a younger photographer. It's a minimal (but heavily retouched) composition that speaks to the imprint we are leaving on the environment.

In the 1850's, a group of forward thinking Chicagoans set out to create country's first municipal park and boulevard system. They began by developing large outdoor "pleasure-grounds" intended to be enjoyed by locals as a restorative escape from the chaos of city life. However, recognizing that Chicago's winters could be long, harsh, and isolating, and that people were longing for year-round activities, the neighborhood fieldhouse was created. There was no template used - the buildings were designed to be everything to everyone, a physical and social home away from home.

Inspired by the instant gratification of the iconic, but nearly extinct Polaroid, these heavily filtered, extensively pixelated images are a snapshot of our current culture of quick, customizable convenience.