Rodrigo Barraza

Software Engineer, Photographer & Artist

Rodrigo Barraza is a software engineer, artist and photographer based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He emerged as an internet artist who works in a variety of media and focuses on photography, AI art, film, animation, visual design and illustration.

Photography & Film

Rodrigo grew up with an interest in visual media and started out as a young animator and illustrator in 2001. He soon started experimenting with film photography, videography, game development and graphic design. His photographic practice spans both analog and digital mediums, with a particular focus on medium format film photography using cameras like the Hasselblad 500 series, shooting on reversal film stocks including Fujifilm Velvia 100, Fujifilm Provia 100F, Ilford Delta 400, and Kodak TMAX P3200. His work explores multiple exposure techniques, long exposure photography, portraiture, boudoir, street photography and urban landscapes, predominantly shot on location in Vancouver, Canada.

Rodrigo's photography has been exhibited internationally, including at the Museo de Arte de Lima in Peru (2019), The Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver (2011), and the Emily Carr University of Art & Design graduation exhibition (2011). He has also directed the 16mm short film Spotless (2012) in collaboration with Ewa Chruscicka, and contributed cinematography and videography to music videos for Vancouver-based new wave synth pop band Petroleum By-Product.

Generative AI Art

Combining his passion for software development with the rise of artificial intelligence media since 2017, Rodrigo Barraza has pivoted his artistic practice to algorithmic and generative art, and generative artificial media through the use of CLIP-driven image synthesis. His AI art collections — including Tardigrades, Generated Mollusca, Crystal Landscapes, and the animated Ainimations series — explore crystalline environments and organic forms through CLIP-guided diffusion processes. He has also published Pristine Diffusion, an open-source Google Colab notebook for CLIP-guided diffusion art generation, inspired by Katherine Crowson's fine-tuned diffusion models and utilizing both OpenAI's CLIP and open-source alternatives like OpenCLIP.

Software Engineering

When it comes to software development, Rodrigo Barraza began programming in 2004, specializing in front-end web development and Flash web applications. With over 20 years of programming experience, his expertise spans the full stack — from front-end frameworks like React, Next.js, and Vue.js to back-end technologies including Node.js, Express, Python, and MongoDB. After graduating from University and working with many startups and corporations over the years, he eventually came to lead large teams in various companies as a technical lead and engineering manager.

In 2017, Rodrigo co-founded Einstein Exchange, a cryptocurrency exchange start-up that focused on providing worldwide clients with a safe, secure and simple way to buy, trade and invest in virtual currencies. Since 2019, Rodrigo has been a software consultant and contractor for various startups, building full-stack web applications, AI-powered tools, and micro-service architectures.

Education

Rodrigo holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada (Class of 2011). His academic training in the photographic arts informs both his traditional and computational creative work.