Crystal Kuegel
For Crystal Kuegel, photography began with a single defining moment: the first time she picked up a camera. Something clicked, and she knew she had found the medium through which she wanted to express herself. Creativity runs in her family—her grandmother was an artist—and that spirit shaped her early years before evolving into her own pursuit of fine art photography.
Crystal holds a BFA from East Carolina University and is currently pursuing her MFA at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, studying online from her home in North Carolina. Formal training has given her not only a deep fluency in Photoshop, but also the ability to refine her work into something intentional, expressive, and distinctly her own.
Her art revolves around fine art portraiture, where people and light are central. She is fascinated by the concept of extrusive time—the way light can stretch, transform, and capture fleeting moments as surreal, intimate images. Themes of vibrant color and the human form recur throughout her work, representing both the aesthetics of beauty and the boundless potential of visual storytelling.
Crystal draws inspiration from her surroundings, often finding unexpected backdrops in hidden corners of her small coastal town. When she encounters creative blocks, she turns to the internet, reinterpreting images and ideas in her own way until new inspiration takes hold. One of her most rewarding challenges has been underwater photography—an unpredictable practice that tests equipment, light, and human endurance, but yields ethereal results that push her skills forward.
Her goal is simple: to stop viewers in their tracks. She seeks to create that “wow” moment—something unexpected, beautifully composed, and emotionally resonant. Her current projects include Inedible: The Food We Eat Is Killing Us, a provocative exploration of health and consumption; Underwater Photography, capturing surreal beauty beneath the surface; and Wonderment, a light-painting series that transforms darkness and illumination into narratives of magical reality.
For Crystal, art is inseparable from life. She balances graduate study, part-time work, and photography with a steady rhythm—three days at Walmart, four days dedicated to school and art. Meditation helps her recharge; collaboration with models, designers, and makeup artists fuels her practice. Most of all, the sense of trust and community she builds with her collaborators is deeply fulfilling.
“I don’t follow trends,” she says. “I follow curiosity.” Through persistence and exploration, she continues to pursue photography as both passion and purpose—transforming overlooked places and fleeting light into moments of wonder.
