Juan Contreras is a Vancouver, BC-based photo essayist and figurative oil painter. His work explores human presence within urban environments and architecture.

City Frames

Capturing the identity of urban life, its energy, contrasts, and moments of stillness by presenting the city as both a constructed landscape and a lived human experience.

Essay

Essays are photographic projects guided by an authorial vision, using photography as a means of reflection and storytelling. Rather than isolated images, they unfold as cohesive narratives shaped by intention, sequencing, and theme.

Series and Painting

Photography Series explores a subject through a sequence of connected images, building meaning through continuity, variation, and visual rhythm.

Paintings emphasize expression and interpretation, using colour, form, and gesture to convey emotion and ideas beyond representation.