The Capture Photography Festival is back again to re-frame our view on the potentials of a picture. The annual photographic tradition is featuring a healthy roster of free exhibitions, public art projects and all manner of events throughout the Lower Mainland from April 3rd to the 30th. Knowing from experience how daunting a festival it can be to navigate (on account of it being so spread out), we put together our recommendations as well as some pro tips for quality food and drink nearby. See you out there!

FOTOFILMIC17
BAF Gallery (108 East Broadway)
Mar 22 – May 12, 2018 | Tu–Sa: 12–5 pm
FOTOFILMIC’s fifth international juried travelling exhibition presents thirty photographers with an inclusive and insightful worldview. With an impressive global roster, bring a friend to the show and head across the street to Fable Diner afterward for their classic FD Burger and debate which photographer is your favourite.

Capture Dreams Photo Walk
Robson St. at Broughton St.
Apr 28, 2018 | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Feeling inspired to create a few photos of your own? The Capture Dreams Photo Walk gives you a chance to capture dancers from Arts Umbrella as they strike poses across sites in Downtown Vancouver. If bounding around downtown has worked up an appetite, the photo walk ends at the Listel Hotel which conveniently puts you in the vicinity of stopping in at Forage for a quick bite!

Project Instant V5.0: On the Spot: Instant Stories
Beau Photo at Science World at TELUS World of Science (1455 Quebec St)
Apr 4 – May 13, 2018 | Mon–Fri: 10 am–5 pm; Sat-Sun: 10 am–6 pm
Celebrating the immediacy of a Polaroid, Project Instant is a group show featuring the candid, unpolished stories captured with instant photography. Beautifully imperfect, this is a show that’s may inspire you to pick up a camera too. Mull it over while you stop into Faculty Brewing nearby for a beer.

Erin Siddall & John O’Brian: Art in the Atomic Age
Inform Interiors (50 Water Street)
Apr 10, 2018 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
As part of Bombhead on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Inform Interiors is hosting a talk between artist Erin Siddall and art historian and curator John O’Brian. Together, they’ll explore their fascination with the atomic. Paired with Siddall’s public art installation “Proving Ground, Nevada, Vancouver”, installed at the Broadway–City Hall Canada Line Station, get a deeper dive into the creative mind of an artist featured at this year’s Capture before making your way to Pourhouse for a drink to process it all.

For the Left Hand Alone
Richmond Art Gallery (7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC)
Apr 3 – May 27, 2018 | Mon–Fri: 10 am–6 pm; Sat-Sun: 10 am–5 pm
Thanks to social media, you can’t talk about modern photography without exploring it’s role in our everyday lives. Artist Karilynn Ming Ho articulates the disconnecting and disenchanting effects of being bombarded by digital information in her new show “For the Left Hand Alone” at the Richmond Art Gallery. Before making your way back into town, make sure to stop into one of Fernando Medrano’s favourite Richmond spots Too Two Chinese Sauerkraut Fish for a temptingly Instagrammable, Sichuan-inspired, Guangzhou Taiyuan pickled fish soup.

Erin McSavaney & Adad Hannah
Equinox Gallery (525 Great Northern Way)
Apr 14 – May 19, 2018 | Tue–Sat: 10 am–5 pm
The Equinox Gallery is hosting a pair of artists, Erin McSavaney and Adad Hannah during Capture. As a unique pairing, McSavaney is a painter with a strong relationship to photography while Hannah explores the history of photography with an eye-catching approach. This is a great stop to experience two unique roles that photography can play in art and history that are best discussed over a beer or three afterwards at nearby Red Truck (295 E 1st Avenue).

I Was a Teenage Skateboarder in the ’90s
The Pipe Shop (115 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver)
Mon–Fri: 12–6 pm; Sat-Sun: 11 am–6 pm (during exhibition only)
For those old enough to remember, Vancouver had it’s heyday as a skate mecca. “I Was a Teenage Skateboarder in the 90’s” curated by Ben Stoddard is a clear-eyed look back at some of those radder times before curbs were capped and historic skate spots paved over. If you’re feeling teary-eyed and wistful for those counterculture years, walk up to Earnest Ice Cream’s new location on 127 W 1st St. and cheer yourself up with a double scoop on a waffle cone.

A Hint Will Keep You Wandering
Yactac (855 E Hastings St.)
Apr 12 – Apr 26, 2018 | Sat-Sun: 1 – 5 pm
Tom Hsu’s show “A Hint Will Keep You Wandering” is an exciting feature of a quickly emerging artist. With a residency at the Burrard Arts scheduled later this Spring, his show that blends installation with photography during Capture is a great preview of what’s to come. In keeping with the Hsu’s magical irreverence, I suggest pairing the show with a Strathcona Beer Co.’s weirdo “Hawaiian” Pizza which sounds like sacrilege until you realize you’ve downed 4 slices and a beer.

PHANTASMAGORIA
Surrey Art Gallery UrbanScreen (13458 107a Ave, Surrey)
Jan 25 – Apr 29, 2018 | 30 minutes after sunset – midnight
As an amazing large scale display, Alex Mcleod’s work is bringing the west wall of Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre to life with his vibrant stories and characters. With screenings starting 30 minutes after sunset, there is no better opportunity to pair the outing with dinner at Taste of Africa (recently featured in our Never Heard of It column) just a stones throw away.

Roll Call
Roundhouse Community Arts Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews)
Apr 27, 2018 | 7:00 pm – 12:00 am
$5 tickets at www.rollcallvancouver.com
With the immediacy of our modern lives, Roll Call reflects the fast paced life style in a one-day event that pushes the boundaries of traditional analogue photography. On the morning of Roll Call, a set of photographers are given eight-hours to capture all 36 frames before they are collected, processed, mounted, loaded into slide carousels, and projected that evening in their entirety without edits. Since Roll Call runs well into the night, I suggest pre-gaming with a plate of the unctuous oxtail fideo at Fayuca before making your way to the show.