A Little Bit About Me and My Photography Journey

Crystal Li is a Photographer based in New York, working worldwide. Her passion lies in telling the story behind sports, music, film, and culture through photography. Crystal was born in Los Angeles and spent half of her life in Beijing and half in New York, where she attended NYU Stern to study Business Marketing.

Crystal has been obsessed with visual storytelling since she was a kid. In elementary school, she would participate in weekly photo-editing challenges posted on online forums. In her free time, she manipulated light, contrast, and color in Photoshop to experiment with the idea of aesthetics and art. She took her first photography class in high school in Long Island, with an ancient point-and-shoot camera. Her first personal camera was a Canon M50, a gift from her mom in 2019 when she spent a semester in Shanghai. She had an ambition to get into videography and document her experiences, but as things got busy, that goal was pushed onto the back burner.

When the global pandemic hit, Crystal found herself inspired by videos of street photographers exploring the world, finding nuances in ordinary life. She bought her Ricoh GR3 with her first year-end bonus, and that is where her passion for photography really sparked. She traveled to places she otherwise never would have visited if not for photography, and it has forever changed how she sees the world.

It felt long overdue when she finally pulled the trigger to get her first professional mirrorless camera, the Canon R5 Mark II. It has allowed her to capture what she is truly passionate about: tennis, racing, concerts, film festivals, fashion weeks… She loves freezing action and emotion in a frame.

Crystal has also delivered high-quality photos to clients under tight deadlines, balancing creativity with efficiency. She welcomes opportunities to collaborate and invites you to reach out for photography inquiries or projects.