John’s filmmaking - photography career began in California and has led him to New York, Europe, Cyprus, Greece, the Caribbean, New Zealand, Australia and back to California. As creative director - writer - cinematographer - editor, John has produced numerous documentary and educational mini-documentaries under the EarthAlive label, most of them focusing on underrepresented indigenous cultural leaders and their perspectives.

John was the sole owner of a successful commercial photography business in the heart of Manhattan. He illustrated numerous books and magazines, photographed the architecture of world-renowned architects, and worked for prestigious publishers such as Newsweek, National Geographic, Reader’s Digest and Doubleday.  While photographing the Statue of Liberty for Newsweek’s popular “Wonders of Man” book, John captured unique views of The Lady by climbing deep inside her torch and by shooting through the open floor of a helicopter as it circled her crown.

John has written and illustrated several of his own books: THE GREEKS (published by Double Day), ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY (published by AMPHOTO), and WHITE MAN’S RAVEN (seeking publication). John’s photographs are in the permanent archives of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of Immigration in New York, the Centre Canadian d’Architecture in Montreal, and the University of Pennsylvania Archeological Library. He also innovated and taught a self-reflective photography class for inner city youth, Shoot Cameras Not Guns, at the Attitudinal Healing Connection in Oakland, California. John’s many years of working with, learning from and recording Karuk medicine man Charlie Thom have led to the production of WALKING BACKWARDS, a feature documentary film about Charlie’s remarkable life story.

AWAKENING TO LIGHT by John Veltri

My life as a photographic artist began when I awakened to the “aliveness” of light. The gift of seeing light came to me when I was a child, and has been the foundation upon which I have built my artistic mastery. Whether painting, acting in theater, designing lighting, shooting still photography or films, I have always sought to capture the perfect moment of light. In that brief moment in time, my whole being comes alive.

I have photographed and filmed under all kinds of social situations and atmospheric conditions, out in nature and indoors.  From commercials shot in highly-articulated studio lighting to photogrammetric documentation in the depths of the Mediterranean on an underwater archeological shoot, whether photographing from a high-flying helicopter or filming a Native elder on a mountaintop at the first light of dawn, I love the magic of light.

I believe that a great photograph occupies a place between stillness and motion. With the right light, I can capture the essence of a person, an event or a concept  -

a fleeting, transparent reflection of the moment. The ephemeral spirit of that time-between-time, the inexpressible emptiness of when we are fully awake in a presence that mirrors the Self.

The year was l944, a warm summer day in August. I remember lying in my bed, watching the late afternoon sun stream through the branches of a tall tree just outside my second-story bedroom window. How fascinated I was, watching the exquisitely clear, vibrant play of light as it danced on the gently moving branches. Every now and then, the tree seemed to reach upward and touch yet another golden strand of light. I remember so clearly this bright, beautiful scene, framed by the darkness of the room in which I sat.

In that moment - my first awakening to light - an immense sense of peace flooded my body. I remember that as I pulled myself up to get a better look out the window, a feeling of balance and focus came into my body. It was as though the light was lifting me up, filling me up, taking me to another world that was outside of my body. I was transfixed, enchanted by the light and the tree. Everything was so alive... just like me! Delighted to be sitting up after a very long stretch of darkness, I looked down at my feet and wiggled my toes. I felt so happy to be alive. I started to giggle.

As I sat there, I somehow understood, in the wisdom of my child's mind, that as the light came into my eyes, it also came into my mind. It seemed to help fuse the separate parts of my fragmented consciousness, and make a whole new Me. You see, I had been hit by an automobile early that summer. I had been in my bed, in a semiconscious state, for weeks. As I recovered, I had to learn to walk, talk ,and focus all over again. I was six years old.

I realize now that on that day, a fascinating world of spatial dimension, color, and all kinds of shapes and forms of light energy were opened up for me to see. From that day on, I have been intensely involved in studying the qualities of light and the infinite images that light creates for me.

A very particular vibration of golden light penetrated my consciousness that special day and awakened me to the nature of my perceptions. The memory of that moment when I was 6 when my spirit, soul and mind returned to my body, will forever connect me to the gift of light. The wonder I felt as a child is still with me when I immerse myself in the process of taking a photograph, when I connect to a spontaneous moment of recognition and the unconditional surrender to instinct, intuition, and inner knowing.