Panoramic Images is very pleased to have Alvis Upitis as Featured Photographer this season. Based in Hawaii, Alvis is a second generation photographer, who has made professional photography his life work and teaching. His father and two uncles were photographers in Latvia. His father continued working as a studio photographer even after emigrating first to Germany and then to the US after WWII, and Alvis continued the family tradition. Alvis earned a BS degree in Photo Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology followed by a MFA from Utah State University. He went on to teach at Minneapolis College of Art and Design before freelancing full-time. He has travelled the world shooting for the past 45 years for corporate, editorial, military and art clients.

Alvis has always moved easily between cameras and formats. He became fascinated with panoramic photography as soon as he saw the incredible images of E.O. Goldbeck. Struggling to find an appropriate panoramic camera, he finally settled on the Noblex in 612 and 35mm formats and he also enjoys the Fuji GX617 and Hasselblad Xpan cameras. He is also adept at using the Canon for stitched digital pan images. Alvis has always had a hand in the technical and science aspect of photography and has been involved with high level technical research projects for film and printing processes over the years which add an extra level of precision to his work.

Alvis has shot worldwide for Fortune 500 companies and major ad agencies. Magazine work has included Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, Fortune, Forbes and Car & Driver. His images have won numerous awards in prestigious advertising competitions for the past 4 decades including GRAPHIS Annual, PRINT Magazine, and various national art director’s awards.

Alvis has done a number of editorial projects including illustrating a series of children’s books as well as art, agricultural, and technical titles. Alvis has had Photography shows at many venues including Cardiff College, the New York World’s Fair, Grand Central Station, NY Photo Show, Utah Fine Arts Gallery, and Hawaii Photo Expo. He also had a Photo Show in Riga, Latvia entitled UPITIS DYNASTY featuring work with his father and two uncles.

His panoramics in our collection span the globe. Today they often feature diverse subjects local to Hawaii which he and his wife have called home since 2002 after being based in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the 30 years prior.

In his own words:

Like so many photographers, I've traveled extensively and grabbed shots where I could. But living in Hawaii for 10 years, I've come to realize how few times one is at the right place at truly the right time to make a truly exceptional photograph. Through my wife's involvement with hula, Hawaiian language and chants, I've been fortunate to photograph aspects of Hawaiian culture and locations not seen by many tourists or even locals. Though not a part of my commercial work, it has perhaps been the most rewarding.

Alvis has been a Panoramic Images photographer since he joined the agency in 1998. His work is always beautifully composed and strikingly balanced, a study of form and beauty whether he is shooting a lone tree on a windy hilltop in Hawaii or a crowd in Sheep Meadow in New York's Central Park. It is with great pleasure that we showcase the work of Alvis Upitis, a photographer with a truly wide ranging and rich photographic heritage and body of work.