Biography

Bret Culp, born in 1970 in Dunnville, Ontario, and currently based in Toronto and Georgian Bay, Ontario, is a distinguished fine art photographer known for his exploration of themes surrounding impermanence and the passage of time. His black and white photography captures scenes that resonate with history and place, while his colourful solargraphs—created using extremely long exposure techniques—transform the sun’s movement into abstract visual records that chronicle the flow of time.

Culp’s work explores the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal, finding beauty in these natural processes. His background in the film and television industry as an award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Second Unit Director enriches his creative approach, infusing his photographs with thematic depth and storytelling.

His work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Canada; the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, USA; and numerous prominent galleries in the greater Toronto area. Moreover, Culp has participated in prestigious events such as RGM Exposed at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Canada, where he won the Landscape/Nature Award; CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto, Canada; Masters of Photography International Exhibition in Curitiba, Brazil (featuring more than 60 major works by contemporary photography masters); and the Art of Nature auction fundraiser, Toronto (billed as the finest collection of nature-inspired art ever assembled in Canada by some of the country’s most respected artists). Culp’s photography has been published in many respected magazines, including PhotoEd (Canada), LensWork (USA), and Images Ages (China).