Photographer Mikio Kambara currently has his work - many featuring beautiful Chilliwack landscapes - on display at Asai's Art Gallery on Wellington Avenue. Photo by JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Beauty is found in light, leaves, and rain drops. Heck, it's even found in somewhat scary-looking, orange-tinged spiders.
Ever since Mikio Kambara was presented with his very first camera - a double-lens reflex Yashica 4x4 - at just nine years old, he's been snapping the shutter non stop. And what started out as a fun, childhood pastime, has since turned into a lifetime passion.
From now until the end of June, Kambara's digital photo exhibit, It's All About Light, is on display at Asai's Art Gallery on Wellington Avenue.
There's photos of lime-green maple leaves looking up to a candy-blue sky; a black dog resembling a porcupine shaking the sharp quills of water from his water-soaked back; and the essence of Spielberg lighting shooting through the fluffy, white morning clouds.
Kambara's viewfinder is like a special passage to a whole other, beautiful world. It's an opening to something not typically seen by the every day eye.
"Some of my photos are taken in the flash of a moment," he says, "like when the light is shining through the clouds. I'll take a few frames and then just like that it'll disappear - nature is always changing so fast.
"And I like that I am able to capture those special moments, those quick scenes that are beyond what a person can just see, and share them with others."
For over 40 years, Kambara's been telling stories through his photos, but he's only been telling them digitally since 1999. Those early photos, he says, weren't of show quality, but through time, practice, and studies his skill and his product have greatly advanced.
Now, he's garnered a number of awards and accolades; he produces his own online photography magazine; and he guides a group of amateur Japanese photographers to photo greatness.
He spends about 60 per cent of his days doing photo-related activities, and his favourite one of all: Recording Chilliwack's ever changing light patterns.
"I love taking pictures of light," he says, explaining the beauty behind the photo Shaft of Light. "It has a spiritual, Christian metaphor to it - the light is very bright, very aggressive, shining through the clouds and down on to the darkness of the grounds.
"I love to go out early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when the sun comes up and when the sun goes down."
And when people view his photos, when their eyes light up to the brightness that's portrayed in those photos, Kambara feels he's done his hobby well. He's expressed his creativity.
Photographer Mikio Kambara currently has his work - many featuring beautiful
Chilliwack landscapes - on display at Asai's Art Gallery on Wellington Avenue.
Photo by JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
A new display is up in Asai's Art Gallery on Wellington Avenue.
Photographer Mikio Kambara showcases local outdoor scenes in his oneman show, It's All About Light.@The photo show runs until June 30.
"The local people who have viewed this latest exhibit have been thrilled with the quality of the photography and surprised that so much of the subject matter that they find appealing is available to them right here in Chilliwack and its neighbouring communities," says gallery owner Asai Wu Brandt. "Daily exposure, I suppose, blinds us to the beauty at our doorsteps. And only through another's eye do we become aware of what we've got, of how beautiful Chilliwack is, of what Canada has to offer, and of how fortunate we are to live here."
She describes Kambara's eye as "exquisite," offering a distinct perspective blending Japanese artistry with finely honed photographic skills.
"His pictures are like luminous paintings and reveal a special talent that should not be overlooked," she says.
It's All About Light, Asai's Art Gallery, 45949 Wellington Ave., until June 30. The galley is open 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday.