It's that time again!
May's B.C. Photographer of the Month is Eyoälha Baker.
Baker was born in Alert Bay on north Vancouver Island, but has been travelling the world since she was a child. Perhaps it's fitting that Eyoälha means "the wind" in the Kwakwa’ka’wakw language.
She has lived in a teepee on the side of a river in Squamish, a van in Morocco, and a house boat in Amsterdam.
"My way of translating the way I see beauty in the world ended up being in the form of photography," Baker told The Huffington Post B.C.
"I really fell in love with photography in 2005 when I got my first digital camera ... I threw out the instructions and experimented with light, movement, colour, and texture. That camera became an extension of my arm."
For the past two years, Baker has been working on a photo project called Jump For Joy, where her subjects do just that. She posts the pictures on her blog, and hopes to turn them into a book.
She's captured 300 subjects in five different countries, choosing "jumpers" who are creative and passionate, reported CBC News.
"I capture the uplifting, vibrant energy of joy," she told HuffPost B.C. "The concept came from a challenging time in my life where I wasn't happy with the way my life was going."
Baker had just suffered a break up, and was no longer motivated in her interior design business. She ultimately ended up selling it and hitting the road with her camera.
"I decided to focus on all the things in life that inspire and bring me joy."
Recently, Baker was invited to create a mural on a 9,000 sq.-ft. wall in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. She will be using more than 100 of her Vancouver Jump For Joy photos to build a giant collage. (She is currently raising money for it on Kickstarter.)
Know a great B.C. photographer we should feature? Let us know in the comments.
Jump For Joy!
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