Photographer
Luke Downs
Fine Art Photography
Saltmarsh Gallery
Come and discover the unique beauty of our setting at 2190 Cowichan Bay Road, nestled in the stunning surroundings of Cowichan Bay, British Columbia.
Business Art Solutions
Enhance your corporate environment with bespoke art installations tailored to your brand’s aesthetic.
Limited Editions Prints
Discover our selection of greeting cards and prints framed and unframed. Ideal for gifts, souvenirs, and places of business.
Portfolio
Modern Art
Art transcends reality, beautifully captured in his Modern Art collection, inviting you to explore a unique and imaginative realm.
Trees
A naturalist with a keen eye, Luke captures the quiet poetry of trees — from their vibrant flowering peaks to the dignified decay of those that once stood proud. His work invites us to see nature not just as scenery, but as story.
Landscape
From sweeping ocean vistas to the sun-soaked hillsides of Spain, Luke’s work reminds us of the quiet, enduring beauty that surrounds us. Through his lens, the world is not only seen — it’s felt.
Urban
Urban landscapes also capture Luke’s attention, where his keen eye finds meaning in the fleeting moments of our ever-expanding urban footprint. His work reveals the rhythms and contrasts of city life with the same reverence he brings to nature.
Nature
Whether it’s the delicate balance of flora and fauna or the quiet life that thrives within nature, Luke captures the moments most of us pass by. Step into the natural world through his lens — and see what you’ve been missing.
In his own words
Simplicity of form through shape or colour…
When I look around me, things and scenes I see stand out from their surroundings in a very particular way. As I stand and look at it, the World resolves into shapes and forms and I like to transmit this… to show them, to reveal them.
Most of the time it’s there, in front of me, but sometimes I go looking for it with my camera lens, poking it in to places really close up, to find the same kinds of shapes and forms, which are just not visible to the naked eye.
It doesn’t really matter what they are or represent. It’s bringing them out that’s important. In fact, I’ve found that they represent different things to different people and I enjoy that.
Different people may see them sufficiently differently that when they get them home, they want to hang them another way up. In fact, I encourage that sort of experimentation. What I’ve shown is what works for me.
In many cases, if a picture is well composed, so that the forms and shapes fill the frame in a harmonious balance, once we cease to worry, “What is it?”, we can turn the picture on its head, or even its side and lose nothing, and sometimes gain something. Try it with your pictures at home!!
If I were to try my hand at painting, I would revisit some of these pictures and distill them further, because in some, the essential form that I see is still veiled by distracting detail.
Nevertheless, it is, I believe, visible to the discerning viewer and the detail provides a decorative touch. The pictures are probably none the worse for that.
Luke Downs
Qualicum Beach, 2010
“There is a fine art to capturing the beauty around us, and Luke Downs, who describes his work as abstract realist, has it down to a science with his photography which art aficionados can ogle inside his Saltmarsh Galley located in Cowichan Bay. “
Cowichan Valley Citizen
“For anyone with a discerning eye and a sense of wonder, Luke Downs fine art photography will be sure to capture your attention.“
Parksville and Qualicum News
Transform your space
Luke Downs Fine Art Photography
Location
2190 Cowichan Bay Rd Cowichan Bay, British Columbia
Phone
(250) 597-8037