W
e see a lot of creative artwork at
Vapouround, from the lifestyle shots
and adverts in our magazine to the
influencers and products on social media.
But one artist in particular has really caught
our eye with his truly unique photography. Phil
Wartena aka Vappix.
We caught up with Phil to fi nd out how his childhood
hobby and the life-changing effects of vaping
inspired his career as a vape photographer. “My
father was an amateur photographer, so I grew up
around cameras,” said Phil. “In high school he let
me use his fi lm cameras and even though I wasn’t
very good, I knew then that this was what I wanted
to do. We built a darkroom in the basement and
I would spend hours in there developing and
printing black and white images.
“I went to college at San Francisco State University
and majored in journalism with an emphasis in
photojournalism. At the same time, in the late 90s,
I began documenting the underground rave scene
in California. I learned to use an off-camera flash
in the dark, on fi lm and that’s where the magic
really began to take hold.
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