Juan Tapia is a farmer who has managed to stand out in the world of photography thanks to his personal vision of the craft. His quest to capture images that transcend the purely visual has earned this native of Almeria the admiration of the general public and the respect of the most experienced photographers. In 2002, he began his training at the photography school in his hometown, Roquetas de Mar, where he solidified his knowledge and discovered his vocation for the world of nature photography.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITIONS

2007 - Fauna Award, VIII Photography Contest "Protected Spaces of the Province of Almería".

2008 - Finalist XXV Photography Contest "World Environment Day".

2011 - Honorable Mention in the Fotocam 2010 International Contest, Vegetation section.

2011 - Thematic Award "World Environment Day" 2011, Natural Spaces, Spaces of the Future.

2012 - Honorable Mention in the Memorial María Luisa 2012 International Contest, Creative section.

2013 - Honorable Mention in the Memorial María Luisa 2013 International Contest, Vegetation section.

2013 - Honorable Mention in the Montphoto 2013 International Contest, Ecological Denunciation section.

2013 - Highly Commended European Wildlife Photographer 2013 GDT, Creative section.

2014 - Honorable Mention in the Memorial María Luisa 2014 International Contest, Creative section.

2014 - Honorable Mention in the Asferico 2014 International Contest, Italy, Man and Nature section.

2015 - Highly Commended in the BioPhotoContest International Contest - Italy 2015.

2015 - Honorable Mention and First Prize AEFONA, Montphoto 2015, Mountain section.

2015 - Honorable Mention and Second Prize AEFONA, Montphoto 2015, Landscape section.

2015 - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015, Category Winner Impressions.

2016 - Best Landscape of the Year by the magazine El Paisaje Perfecto.

2017 - Winner of the "Art and Nature" category, Montphoto 2017 International Contest.

2023 - Honorable Mention in the Montphoto 2023 International Contest, Ecological Denunciation section.

2023 - Highly Commended European Wildlife Photographer 2023 GDT, Creative section.

2024 - Brote Photography Award, International Environmental Film Festival of the Canary Islands (FICMEC XXVI).

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

SECRETS OF THE CAPE

"The cape enters the waters like the profile of a dead man or a sleeper with hair submerged in the sea. The color is not color; it is merely light. And the light followed the light in layers of thin transparency. The cape descends into the waters, drawing a profile by the hand of a god who here found completion, the perfection of sacrifice, the thinness of the line that engenders a horizon or the endless desire for the distant. The god and the sea. And beyond, the gods and the seas. Always. As the waters kiss the sands and only move away to return, I return to your waist, to your lips moistened by time, to the light of your skin that the wind ignites under the afternoon. Territory, your body. The sharp descent of the stone towards the sea, from the cape to the waters. And the emptiness of all creation enveloping, maternal, like an immense home." José Angel Valiente. Photographers: Eva De Mas, Agustín Barrajón, Enrique Capilla, Carlos de Paz, Joaquín Fernández, Paco Fernández, Darío García, Federico G. Maroto, Manuel Ismael Gómez, Domingo Leiva, Juan Tapia, Manuma, David Méndez, Juanma Orta, Víctor J. Rincón, Paco Rodríguez (Faluke), Fran Rubia, José A. Sánchez, and Pilar Villegas.

ABSTRACT: THIS IS HOW WE SEE NATURE

For a long time, we had the idea of developing a thematic series among all of us. The aim was to try to do something different without giving up our passion for natural landscapes. We wanted to find a common thread, a specific axis on which to focus our thoughts, an idea that would move away from the classic landscape but without betraying the sensitivity and personality of each member of the group. Thus, the challenge arose to venture into a territory as subjective and suggestive as abstractions in the natural world. A way to cross the boundary of realism that many of our images exuded, seeking a more dreamlike result and demonstrating that nature can still be photographed differently if we accompany the experience with the necessary emotional charge. Moving the line that separates the reality of our artistic model and the abstraction of our idea posed an exciting creative challenge. Photographers: Isabel Díez, Rafael Rojas, Jep Flaqué, Fernando Ruiz Tomé, Juan Carlos Muñoz, Giannis Gogos, Javier Sánchez, Raúl Esteban, Eduardo Blanco Mendizabal, Miguel Puche, Adolfo Díez, Urtzi Vera, Juan Tapia, Antonio Real, Luis Gil, Miguel Lasa, Daniel Montero, Javier Alonso Torre, Koldo Badillo, Juan Santos, Manuel Lemos, José A. Porras, Nuria Blanco, Román Díez, Enrique Ferrá, Luis Llavori, David Santiago, Pere Soler, and Roberto Iván Cano.

PICTIO, IN COMPANY WITH PAINTING

A way of looking at nature photography, in which the photographer, influenced and attracted by pictorial trends and the visual aesthetics that characterize them, visualizes the result of the photographic process with a unique style in which these influences are perceived or predominate, depending on the case. It aims to show a way of "seeing" in which the authors feel the result of these influences as an evocation, not always conscious, of the way of understanding the image in painting, achieving an enriched style of capturing nature and landscapes, combining photographic and pictorial values. A sort of new photographic style not at odds with more well-known photographic disciplines. It arises from an exhaustive selection of the work of the members of Portfolio Natural, in which the selected images are classified according to seven artistic trends by which they may have been influenced. Photographers: David Frutos, Rafael Rojas, Juan Carlos Muñoz, Adolfo Díez, Juan Tapia, Antonio Real, Luis Gil, Miguel Lasa, Daniel Montero, Javier Alonso Torre, Koldo Badillo, Juan Santos, Manuel Lemos, José A. Porras, Nuria Blanco, Luis Llavori, David Santiago, Juanjo Sierra, Mario Suárez, Uge Fuertes, Rubén Domínguez, Román Díez, Enrique Ferrá, Jesús Rodríguez, Esteve Garriga, Pere Soler, and Roberto Iván Cano.

DIVERSITY AND PLURALITY IN ALMERIA PHOTOGRAPHY

This exhibition aims to offer an overview of the diversity and plurality of Almeria photography, as its title indicates, emphasizing the most current works, giving visibility to most of the key names and new generations of photographers and their splendid works. A list of almost twenty emerging and established artists, covering the entire spectrum of photography, from landscape and artistic photography to fashion and portrait, from reportage to street photography. Photographers: José Almécija, Isabel Aranda, Carlos Barba, Cristóbal Carretero Cassinello, Antonio Jesús García (Ché), Estela García, Leonor García, Rubén García Felices, María Giménez de Azcárate, Lucas Gómez, Domingo Leiva, Carlos Felipe Ortiz, Paco Peregrín, Juan Tapia, Francisco Uceda, Rodrigo Valero, and Pablo Vara.

NATURA

This exhibition brings together a photographic series that includes images related to the natural world, entirely taken in the natural spaces of Almeria. The focus of the exhibition is mainly artistic and not merely documentary, using different photography concepts ranging from realism and figuration to the purest abstraction. The intention is to surprise the viewer with subjects from the natural world that are familiar but presented from different perspectives. The authors are members of "Clave Visual," a group of Almerian photographers who share their passion for nature photography in its multiple facets. Photographers: Agustín Barrajón, Javier Blanes, Enrique Capilla, Paco Fernández, Federico García Maroto, Manuel Ismael Gómez, Edu Hernández de Haro, Manu Méndez, Fran Rubia, Germán Rubia, Miguel Rubio, José Antonio Sánchez Pérez, Luis Saracho, and Juan Tapia.

PUBLICATIONS

The work of Juan Tapia has been published in various magazines such as Iris, LNH, El Paisaje Perfecto, and Seo Birlife. He has also contributed to books like El arte de fotografiar la naturaleza and Paraísos Naturales: “Una visión creativa” along with the Portfolio Natural collective. He is the co-author of the book Pinceladas de luz: “Dos caminos hacia la creatividad”.

CONFERENCES

2015 - Configuring the Gaze. Roquetas de Mar Library, organized by the Roquetas Photography Workshop.

2015 - Configuring the Gaze. IV Exodos Congress, Príncipe Felipe Conference Center, Oviedo.

2015 - Configuring the Gaze. XXIII Aefona Congress, Jaume Pastor i Fluixà Cultural Center, Calpe-Alicante.

2016 - Configuring the Gaze. University of Almería.

2016 - Configuring the Gaze. III Pallantiaphoto, LECRAC Cultural Center, Palencia.

2016 - Configuring the Gaze. Valencia Photo Forum, Joan Plaça Auditorium (Valencia Botanical Garden).

2019 - Expressiveness in Author Photography. Peñón de Ifach Photo Rally, Jaume Pastor i Fluixà Cultural Center, Calpe-Alicante.

2022 - Expressiveness in Author Photography. Afonib Photographic Conference, Caló de s'Oli Auditorium, in Sant Josep de sa Talaia, Ibiza.