簡介：Albalat
Antoni Albalat Salanova (Castelló de la la Plana, Spain, 1961) is a Catalan poet, journalist, and photographer with a long and distinguished career in the world of artistic creation. Based in Sumatra, Indonesia, for several years, he has always balanced his work as a writer with his roles at the university, in the press, and his enduring passion for the image.
His literary work—recognized with awards such as the prestigious Vicent Andrés Estellés Prize—is extensive. As a photographer and visual artist, his gaze seeks to capture the poetry that resides in the precise moment. A member of the Association of Catalan Language Writers, Albalat is a dedicated practitioner of haiku, demonstrating his profound connection with Japanese aesthetic sensibility, where simplicity and depth go hand in hand.
His visual work has been exhibited in galleries and spaces across Spain, Indonesia, Argentina, and Sweden. Described by critics as an "eclectic, daring, and avant-garde" author, his photographs, oil paintings, and digital creations are a reflection of his poetic world: an exploration of light, texture, and "visual poetry" that invites contemplation.
愛好
I spend my days exploring the extraordinary natural and cultural richness of Sumatra. I have a deep passion for entomology, particularly studying the incredible diversity of ants and beetles found in the region's rainforests. This closely connects with my interest in ornithology; I spend many hours observing and identifying the island's vast array of bird species. I am equally fascinated by the native plants of Sumatra, learning to recognize the unique flora that defines this landscape.
These pursuits feed my creative work. I am always carrying my camera, practicing photography to capture the intricate details of insects, birds, and plants I encounter. Back at home, in Tuktuk, Toba, this inspiration takes new forms through oil painting and digital art, where I explore themes of nature and texture.
Beyond the natural world, I am deeply interested in anthropology—specifically the diverse indigenous cultures and their relationship with the forest environment in Sumatra. This, along with a lifelong habit of reading everything from poetry to ethnographic studies, constantly informs my perspective as an artist.
使用的相機器材
Around 90% of my images are taken with a Xiaomi 14T Pro—ideal for spontaneous shots during my fieldwork in Sumatra.
For macro photography, I use a mid-range Nikon DSLR system:
Body: Nikon D5600 (lightweight and durable for rainforest treks)
Macro lens: AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G—compact, with 1:1 life-size magnification, perfect for photographing plants, fungi, and insects
For skittish subjects: AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 85mm f/3.5G ED VR, offering extra working distance and image stabilization
使用的圖像軟件
My digital workflow combines traditional editing tools with experimental and AI-assisted technologies:
Adobe Photoshop—my primary tool for image editing, compositing, and fine-tuning details
Topaz Gigapixel—essential for upscaling macro shots while preserving intricate textures and details
For creative exploration, I work with fractal generation software:
Incendia—for creating complex, organic 3D fractal structures
Apophysis—to design and render flame fractals with fluid, ethereal patterns
Mandelbulber—for exploring 3D Mandelbrot and fractal landscapes
I also incorporate AI tools into my creative process:
Midjourney—for conceptual exploration and generating visual ideas
ChatGPT and Gemini—as creative assistants for research, writing, and brainstorming artistic concepts
This combination of technologies enables me to explore the frontiers of photography, digital painting, and algorithmic art, constantly exploring innovative methods to convey the poetry I discover in nature and my imagination.
My Creative World
I begin my journey on Pixta with a collection of AI-generated images exploring Japanese aesthetics: sealife and seafood reimagined through the lens of ukiyo-e sensibility and contemporary digital tools.
Why AI?
Because we live in extraordinary times. Artificial intelligence has become a new brush, a new chisel, and a new darkroom. It allows me to distill decades of observing nature—the curve of a prawn's antenna, the armor of a lobster, the silent movement of fish through water—into images that honor tradition while embracing possibility. Midjourney becomes my collaborator, translating the precision of haiku into visual poetry.
But this stage is only the beginning.
My camera—that Xiaomi 14T Pro, that Nikon with its macro lens—continues to document the real world: the insects of Sumatra, the native plants, and the birds. Soon, photographs will follow. Real insects on real leaves. Real fish in real streams. The same Japanese aesthetic sensibility, now captured through glass and light rather than algorithms.
What excites me most is the dialogue between these worlds. The AI images inform how I see; the photographs ground the AI in truth. Together, they offer something new: a vision of nature filtered through both human observation and machine imagination.
I invite you to explore this first chapter. And to stay tuned for the next—when the digital meets the analog, when the imagined meets the observed, when Sumatra meets Japan through a Catalan poet's eye.
Antoni Albalat Salanova
