Hi, I’m James.

With an affinity for all things visual, drawing and painting were the focus of my youth.  I studied Art, Theatre and Set Design in university, but shortly thereafter I taught myself photography & photoshop. While my other modes of artistic expression deal more with the internal, photography is my way to engage more with the external.

I now work primarily as a commercial architectural photographer, since 2006.  My experience in commercial work has helped define my relationship to the camera as a tool and not the mysterious thing it once seemed, and the image, not the process, as the sole commanding concern.

Photographing in nature, I see the compositions that many abstract & expressionist painters strive for, the lines and the fields of colour.  When I’m not envisioning something more conceptual, I am usually drawn to relatively minimalist compositions, and enjoy finding compelling imagery in overlooked places, even more than the obviously spectacular locations.

Born in Victoria, BC, I currently reside near Vancouver, BC with my wife and three children, after briefly living in the US and Japan. When I’m not working on commercial photographs of buildings and interiors, I’m often out photographing anything else that catches my eye, or making other types of art.

James Alfred Friesen  -Canadian Artist & Photographer