Barrel Fever
Artist John Baran pursues the perfect wave
Dance of Sky and Water (Gaviota Coast, 2022) captures one of the artist’s favorite moments, when the sky is full of light that complements the crashing waves.
Written by Lorie Dewhirst Porter | Photographs by John Baran
Human beings have a strong emotional connection with the ocean, a fact that Santa Barbara–based artist John Baran is reminded of daily via his social media feed, where he posts photographs of ocean waves. “I get messages from people who don’t even buy my work saying, ‘Thank you for posting these photos. It makes me so happy.’” But heartfelt reactions to his pieces are not surprising, given Baran’s talent for capturing a wave at the moment it crests. With the tube like a telescope offering a glimpse of the shore, this is an intimate view only a surfer could ever hope to see in real life.
An artist for nearly two decades, Baran exhibited his creative inclinations at an early age. Growing up in Santa Cruz, his mother, a graphic designer, “fostered art with us constantly,” he says. “There were crayons and pens, and I drew a dinosaur on the wall one time, and she didn't even get mad at me. She just traced it and recreated it, framed it, and then painted the wall.” But his artistic career did not emerge until he attended graduate school at Cornell University to study landscape architecture; encouraged by a professor, he started making abstract paintings based on aerial views of landscapes. Eventually Baran embraced art full-time and began exhibiting his work in New York, Europe, and Asia.
Several years ago, as a gift to his daughter, Jade, Baran painted a few animals and incorporated them into one of his abstract pieces. After posting the image on social media, he was inundated with requests for animal paintings. “And that’s where the photography came from,” he says, “because I didn’t want to use other people’s images for my animal reference materials.” That led to snorkeling trips to Hawaii with a GoPro camera and to underwater photography of marine life. “I swam with orcas and tiger sharks and manatees and giant manta rays,” he notes. He’s also snapped grizzly bears, wolves, lions, and giraffes in action during sojourns in Yellowstone National Park, Africa, French Polynesia, and Alaska. And he routinely visits his mother’s native Hawaii, often with Jade and son Austin.
“Santa Barbara waves are his specialty, and collectors react strongly to images of specific locations”
Baran’s wave series is fairly recent, a natural extension of his ocean wildlife photography. “I became obsessed with it,” he says. “I was out in the water every day, morning and night.” Santa Barbara waves are his specialty, and collectors connect strongly to images of specific locations. Recently a man who had proposed to his wife on Butterfly Beach years earlier was thrilled to acquire a wave photograph Baran shot there. “It really meant something to him,” Baran recalls, adding that “getting a really good photograph that people want to buy is rewarding, because everyone has a camera now on their phone and everyone can take photos.” Baran’s wave series is available only on his website (johnbaranphoto.com) for the moment, but his paintings and wildlife photographs can be obtained through galleries in Carmel, Santa Cruz, Palm Springs, and Hawaii.
When he’s not capturing waves or sea creatures with his camera, Baran volunteers with Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI), helping rescue and rehabilitate seals back into the wild. And he’s always got trash bags and plastic gloves in his car, ready to clean up the beach a bit after a photo session. ●
