Photographer Spotlight: Jojo Butingan
Sunset on the Rocks, Corona del Mar, ©Jojo Butingan
Welcome back to ImaginationRanch Photography's blog, and our September Photographer Spotlight feature! This month, I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite image makers discovered through Instagram, Jojo Butingan of California. Jojo is an architectural designer and landscape photographer from Bakersfield, California.
Rolling Hills and Oak Trees, CA, ©Jojo Butingan
I discovered his beautiful images through Instagram earlier this year. What really caught my attention, aside from his mastery of light stalking and technically beautiful images, was that the first few images of Jojo's that I came across were of the area there in which my family and I used to live, the foothills and farmlands of California's Central Valley, and the Southern Sierra foothills.
To Infinity, Almond Orchards, Kern Co., CA, ©Jojo Butingan
Many of Jojo's photographs were taken in places that are near and dear to my heart, having grown up in Bakersfield, and spent forty years of my life in most of the places he shoots-- for instance, the above images of the rolling Sierra foothills, the almond orchards of the lower valley, or the images below of the Carrizo Plain on the west side of the county and the piney woods of the Sierras.
Spring Mist, Carrizo Plain, KC side, ©Jojo Butingan
Breath of Light,©Jojo Butingan, full image best viewed on Jojo's 500px gallery, link below
Some of Jojo's works are from equally gorgeous areas outside of Kern County, such as Corona del Mar, or Mt. Rainier.....
Coronas Arch, Corona del Mar, CA., ©Jojo Butingan
Mt. Rainier Hostas, ©Jojo Butingan
It is amazing to me that, while I spent much of my life living in these beautiful places, or visiting them regularly, and always appreciated the peace and joy such scenes brought me, I never thought to pick up a camera myself and shoot them. Well, I was still dabbling in watercolors and pen & ink in those days, I had yet to discover photography. I took pictures with my eyes, snapshots of family and friends, and was just beginning to shoot cloudscapes. Though I was always seeing "pictures" everywhere I went, photography as a creative outlet hadn't yet occurred to me.
Poppies and Birds-eye, Antelope Valley, CA, ©Jojo Butingan
Rose Field at Sunset, Wasco, CA, ©Jojo Butingan
But what I find even more remarkable is Jojo's mastery at capturing both light, color and mood, his ability to take what is already a stunning setting or subject and absolutely make it glow, make you feel it-- in my opinion, Jojo is what I like to call a master "lightstalker", and I'd venture to say he is one of the best photographers out there today. His work inspires me to keep learning my craft, developing my eye, and honing my own photographic skills.
Vanishing Point, Kern Co., California, ©Jojo Butingan
Title unknown, Sierra foothills in California, ©Jojo Butingan
Butingan has taken the places and views that, for me were always commonplace and taken for granted, even though I did love the beauty that surrounded me when I lived out there, and he has elevated them into absolute works of art, taking a moment in Nature's time and freezing the frame at the perfect hundredth of a second.
Mt. Tamalpais Fog, CA, ©Jojo Butingan
Tree of Life, Portland Japanese Garden, OR, ©Jojo Butingan, one of my absolute non- California favorites from his body of works, it appeals greatly to my love of trees . The contrast in this image is stunning.
All in all, if you are a fan of landscape and nature photography, or a fellow shutterbug looking to admire and be inspired by a fellow photographer, you really ought to look into the works of Jojo Butingan. He is definitely one not to be missed, To view more of Jojo's images, go to:
(All images in this Photographer Spotlight post are copyright of the featured photographer, Jojo Butingan, and are not my work. They are sole property of the photographer himself, and used here with his permission.)