Artist: James Stanbridge
Location: Whakatāne Community Board Gallery - Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre

"There's a road that winds down past the local lookout," says Whakatāne-based photographer James Stanbridge. "As you come around the corner, Moutohorā (Whale Island) is perfectly framed above the river and the town. You get this 'Ah, I've made it' Feeling." How many times, you might wonder, have I missed something magical on an oft-trodden path? It is this curious juxtaposition of familiarity and discovery that Stanbridge brings to the exhibition Nature is My Church: Visions of the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

The landscapes Stanbridge depicts are on one hand otherworldly, almost metaphysical, and yet on the other, they are comforting - like a choir singing or a waiata calling us. They could be situated far up a hillside, on a nearby beach, or in a place you never knew existed. No matter where he takes his camera, no matter how daring the process to capture these scenes might be, Stanbridge always offers up unexpected visions.
There is a frenetic sense of acquisition present in the sheer breadth of locations on show. "It's like collecting Pokémon or baseball cards," says Stanbridge. "I want to catch them all." But just as the drive to anthologise is accompanied by a need to share what has been collected, so it is with Nature is My Church. By providing audiences with detailed maps of each location, replete with Google pins and GPS coordinates, Stanbridge is, like an explorer of yesteryear, eager to bestow the treasure trove he has discovered on us all.