“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home” – Gary Snyder
Art Calapatia is a photographer based in Vancouver, BC. His passion for photography started when he was a teenager when his family moved to New York from the Philippines. He was given his first camera – a Kodak Ektralite 500 which used a 110 film. Inspired by his new surroundings, Art took hundreds of photos with that camera. If he wasn’t taking photos of his family and friends, he would be taking photos of New York’s famous landmarks and buildings.
Nowadays, nothing excites him more than studying the works of past and present photographers. His biggest influences include Ansel Adams (Landscape), Henri Cartier-Bresson (Street), Art Wolfe (Nature), Jimmy Chin (Adventure), Michael Yamashita and Joel Sartore (Nat Geo), and Jennifer Wu (Night Photography). “I’ve experimented with different genres and styles in rendering my photos.”, says Art, “In the end, it’s about finding your own voice. For me, I like minimalist, clean photos with natural colours.”
Art likes different types of photography genres but his main passion is in landscapes and cityscapes. For landscapes, Art sees something spiritual in photographing mountains, valleys, oceans, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, stars, clouds, sunrises and sunsets, and even birds and other animals. That spiritual aspect is what he wants to bring out in his photos. He says, “God creates this beauty everyday and I hope to capture it as closely as God designed them to be seen.”
For cityscapes, Art likes to bring out the character and energy of a city. For a city like New York and Vancouver, he likes how dynamic the city is and how it is ever changing with its mix of old and new buildings. He also appreciates the architectural details of both the heritage buildings and modern buildings.
Art’s photos have been featured in regional and national news magazines such as CTV News, Regina Leader Post, CBC News, Georgia Strait, North Shore News, The Province, The Vancouver Sun. He has also participated in an artists group exhibit called ‘Scattering & Gathering’, an exhibition on Filipino migration.
Art is a Canon photographer. His photography equipment consists of a Canon 5D full frame camera with professional lenses.
