Born: May 1 1973

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Christopher Brent Dydyk

Christopher’s grandfather was a photographer, not by trade, but by inclination. At the age of 13 Christopher was given all of his grandfather’s photographic equipment and negatives. Deeply touched by this generosity he was inspired to use the very same camera. He had connected to an art to which was to become his life. His grandfather’s camera proved to be a catalyst. He discovered something about the space where scenes are immortalized, between the film and the shutter, which told him that this was where he should turn his attentions. His early experiments with the camera showed him that he could capture the feeling he had for the world around him and share it with others.

            Born in Canada, near Toronto, Christopher is inspired by the rawness of nature and thus has an uncanny feeling for landscape, which he admits is his first love. Christopher uses a Hasselblad. “Not only is it a wonderful camera’ he explained, ‘but I also like the square format. I feel the pictures have their own energy; they are not static.” He feels that this square format allows the energy to flow around the picture. Motion is an intrinsic part of his photography. Working in both color and black and white, his pictures show an ability to handle both mediums with a sensitivity to their potential. “Color is softer than black and white. It is what it is.” Black and white is more analytic more questioning and intellectual. He understands the limitations of film and is able to exploit those qualities. He sees colors working together that others don’t realize are there. “I always supposed that everyone saw in landscapes what I saw.” You have to have an understanding of light, and how the film is going to interpret that light for you. “Photography is an extension of me, I want people to know me through my images.”

            After attaining a degree in Bio-Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Christopher moved a few miles down the road to attend Brooks Institute of Photography. During this time, he made a trip to the Santa Ynez Valley. He wasn’t there long before he had captured on film a picture that was to become the cover of the internationally best selling book ‘The Man Who Listens to Horses.’ This led to a second opportunity; one in which over 100 of his color photographs were used to illustrate the picture book entitled ‘ShyBoy, The Horse that Came in From the Wild.’ This book also went on to become an international best seller and in currently in publication in several countries around the globe.

            With a natural flair for seeing the whole scene, Christopher does not just capture a smile or a cloud or a tree; he sees a moment in time. He feels the energy between his subjects as a dynamic of composition, and is able to click the shutter down at that moment. He is not afraid to have the focal point of his pictures as a mere fraction of the whole. Christopher professes that he does not look for photographs, but rather, they come and find him.

“Photography is what I am, it is not something I do.”

                                                                            -Christopher Dydyk