A Portrait of the Artist: Angelique Raptakis

Angelique Raptakis is a fine art nature and wildlife photographer. This means that she takes extra care in framing her shots and drawing interest from her images.

"I create photos and make them interesting. I am not interested in taking snapshots," said the artist.

Her work is currently on view at the Arts Barn in a joint show titled "Impressions of Nature" with fellow nature photographer Nikhil Bahl.

Raptakis exhibits widely in Montgomery County where she has lived all of her life. She has shown her work at Kentlands Mansion in Gaithersburg, Blackrock Center for the Arts in Germantown, the Kaplan Gallery at VisArts in Rockville, the Locust Grove Nature Center in Bethesda and the Community Art Gallery at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, among others. She recently had a solo show at the Tate Gallery at Christ Congregational Church in Silver Spring.

She began her career as a photographer by shooting nature scenes exclusively.

"I love being outside and learning about nature and capturing it in ways that I can share with others," said Raptakis who takes a unique perspective on her subject matter.

"I am drawn to the details that others overlook. I shoot intimate landscapes and details - the things that people walk by and miss because they are so small, they do not catch the eye," she said.

Raptakis uses a telephoto lens for most of her photographs. This long-focus lens allows her to get up close to her subjects, while achieving a sense of distance and spatial depth and a crispness of detail that brings faraway objects and the vibrancy of natural environments to the forefront.

She takes special photo vacations to shoot on location in places that she researches meticulously before treading off road. While she photographs locally, some of her favorite shoot locations include places in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

"Antelope's Rainbow," which features a view inside of the Arizona slot canyon shimmers with the natural light reflections cascading across the layers of stone carved into smooth formations by rushing water.

"Many of my images are shot in locations that are at least four miles off road. I get into the back country and go exploring," said Raptakis who frequently shoots in National Parks and goes hiking to find her zen.

As a fine art photographer she works "in-camera" primarily and only uses photoshop as a "digital darkroom." This is not to say that she does not experiment with special effects.

"Sunsenereba" and "Blue Poppies" are shot with a Nikon camera that allows for multiple exposures. Raptakis traditionally uses a Canon, but she borrowed the Nikon from a fellow photographer.

"I moved it a bit between each exposure," she said. "This creates the effect of movement or a repeating pattern."

The overlapping and traslucent petals form a subtle monochromatic veil over the gloss of the photo paper, dancing and shimmering lightly across the surface.

"Birch Swipe" reflects another of Raptakis's "in-camera" manipulations.

"I moved the camera vertically during the exposure. This achieved the streaky, blurry effect that expressed the mood I was experiencing," she said.

The resulting image, which abstracts birch trees shot in the fall in New Hampshire, focuses the eye on hazy line and color effects expressive of an atmosphere.

Raptakis uses the camera to create artistic interpretations of what the eye sees, said the artist.

Raptakis has had her photographs published online and in newsletters. She has also been interviewed on public television.

She belongs to the Siver Spring Camera Club where she serves as Secretary, the North Bethesda Camera Club where she served as Exhibit Chair for several years and the Northern Virginia Camera Club. She has assisted in teaching workshops and has given presetations at these local camera clubs.

Although photography is not her primary occupation, Raptakis exhibits her work several times a year and sells her photography as prints and notecards.

"One of the reasons I like to exhibit is to share my work and let people see images of places they've never been to and to get them excited about nature through creative techniques and perspectives," she said.

To visit the artist's website, click here.