Photography by Javier Lovera

Born and raised in Colombia, Javier Lovera moved to Toronto back in 2006 after just having finished his M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, but found himself doubting his future in engineering: "- I knew I didn't want to be an engineer but didn't know what I wanted to do. I enrolled in a couple of darkroom photography classes and absolutely fell in love with photography and design. Then my wife introduced me to the photographer Steve Carty and I apprenticed with him for a year until I was starting to get my own work, and here we are now." Now his work has featured in national and international magazines such as NUVO, ZINK, Filler, Poor But Sexy, and Contra Magazine, and in 2009, he was one of the winners of the Applied Arts Magazine Photography Annual competition in the fashion and beauty category. Javier finds inspiration in a lot of things, but says his family might be the most important source of inspiration: "- My wife and family are incredibly inspiring and energizing, and are essential to me to be able to work in this world. My wife is also my best and toughest critic, and I always bounce ideas around with her. I also find that collaboration and conversation with other visual artists always takes your ideas further. Visually and conceptually, I find inspiration in a wide arrange things: films (directors like Fellini, Kurosawa, and Kubrick), the work of other photographer's and artists, literature, graphic design, and music (specially jazz). I don't believe inspiration comes all of a sudden to you. I think you need to actively seek it, feeding yourself in a very honest way with things you find appealing. When you do that, its like a rabbit hole and you can find yourself in unexpected and exciting places." Here's some of his work: More pictures inside the post.