Today, I'm thrilled to bring you a conversation with Chris Hytha, the artist behind incredible projects such ROWHOMES and HIGHRISES. I really, really love this photographic work which uses multiple layers of technology to reveal the true beauty of the built world around us. Let's get right to it.

Chris! Great to speak with you today. Can you introduce yourself to our community? Your name, where you are from, and the mediums you work in?

My name is Chris Hytha, I'm a photographer and digital artist based in Philadelphia. My work is heavily influenced by my experience in Architecture school, where I learned Photoshop, which I use to enhance reality.

Your work is so singular and stunning. It has that important quality of being instantly recognizable wherever I see it. Tell us about your upcoming New York project- and then let’s zoom out and talk about things from a Birds Eye view.

Yes, it has been an active effort to create distinct and recognizable work! It was a fascinating process refining a style that was true to me and my eye over the course of many years of sharing work on Instagram.

The New York project is part of the large collection of Highrises, which documents the tops, or crowns of iconic skyscrapers from the early 20th Century.

I'm fascinated by the gilded age, and the structures we built that reflect the spirit of that time. Overly opulent and expressive.

I developed my style through street photography and urban exploring in the early days, and started to feel the urge to work on collections rather than individual photos. This actually came right before I dove into NFTs, and it couldn't have been better timing.

My collections have the common theme of illuminating something that I find intriguing about the built environment, and shining light on lesser seen architecture. This of course was the case with Rowhomes, where I highlighted their unique personalities, and stories of time.

With Highrises, I take a similar approach, highlighting not just the well known buildings like Chrysler or the Empire State, but also some of the gems hidden in small cities across the USA. You can also check out the custom website for Highrises.

Beautiful- I love how you are kind of cataloguing such important eras in American architecture. It’s a stunning compilation of patterns in the built world around us. I feel like despite the size and grandeur of buildings - they are oft overlooked. The way you isolate and frame them from head on perspectives forces us to see them in their true, awe inspiring form.

What are the details for this particular drop? How can our readers get involved?

10 NYC Highrises will release Wednesday at 12pm est for 1 ETH! You can find the page here. Each 1/1 NFT comes with the First edition of the annotated print of the building, and a copy of the Highrises book which is planning to ship early Dec.

Can you share a bit about the process? These are so incredibly clean. Take us through the sequence of events that helps you take an idea for one of these into completion.

For sure. These images are created by stitching several drone photos together. This is a technique that I developed myself, and have refined over the year and a half working on the project. I like to call them "drone scans" because I take a photo at each floor level then merge them into one manually.

This has a few effects. First, it yields a much higher res image then if I were to use a single photo. Additionally, the technique flattens the perspective of the image, creating a slightly surreal effect, similar to the look of an orthographic architectural elevation.

Once I have the images stitched, I use Photoshop to make the details of the building pop. This is done with mix of techniques including many local adjustments to create contrast in material changes, and painting in light and shadow to define form. More than anything, I am to present these buildings with the grandeur that the architect intended.

I love how many layers of technology you use in order to achieve these works of art. Very inspiring to see.

I love how many layers of technology you use in order to achieve these works of art. Very inspiring to see.

Lastly- do you have any advice for someone who is earlier on their creative path? Something you wish you knew when you were starting out?

I think the hardest thing for new artists is what we started out with - defining your own style. I felt so lost in the beginning of my journey. My advice is to try on a lot of hats, find artists that inspire you, and try to figure out how they do what they do.

Copying another artist can be a sensitive subject, and I would recommend starting a dialogue with these artists, and being transparent about your inspirations. For me, my biggest inspiration was @Mindz.eye, and I'm happy to call him a friend now! This journey is a long one, and success doesn't come overnight, just keep going.

Thanks a million Chris, and best of luck on the forthcoming drop! To the reader, Chris has a beautiful website where you can connect with him across the internet and it also has beautiful interactive displays of his projects. I highly reccomend you check it out. Share his work far and wide so we can do our best to help spread the word. Cheers!