Craig Baulcomb
Born in New Zealand, Craig is an avid traveler whose insatiable curiosity for other cultures stems from his own family history.
Growing up as the son of an Air Force Officer and a mother with an incredibly rich Euro-Polynesian history (German, English and Samoan), his early identity was shaped by parents who raised him to appreciate cultural similarities and differences. For the vast majority of his New Zealand school years, Craig attended an all-boys Marist Brothers boarding school in Auckland where the student population drew heavily from the Pacific Islands. With a strong curriculum in Island Studies and with New Zealand being at the forefront of indigenous peoples’ rights, Craig was amongst the first New Zealand pupils to receive official Maori Language and Cultural Instruction.
As the years rolled by, Craig’s family travelled more than the average family and they moved frequently, eventually settling in Canada where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
Craig pursued languages and education in his post-secondary and graduate years, while looking for opportunities to merge his love of travel and culture. Valuing diversity and lifelong learning, Craig took several leaves of absence during his tenure with the Vancouver School District, culminating in a five year long stint living with his family and working in Brunei Darussalam. During this time, his routine life took him on adventures into Malaysian and Indonesian Borneo, a region that gave him some of his most memorable travel experiences. Feeling the need to document the world around him, he also started doing travel and portrait photography.
Upon his return to Canada, Craig secured a position at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital. Working in Child Psychiatry as an Interministerial Education Consultant, he works today as part of an interdisciplinary team supporting children and families who are experiencing significant mental health challenges. Here, in his highly specialized role, Craig has embraced opportunities to be at the vanguard of his profession, and he often attends international conferences on mental health and education.
Imbued with a lifelong fascination of cultures, Craig has travelled to over 80 different countries, mostly solo. Highlights of his solo travels include the Omo Valley of Ethiopia, Yunnan in China, Chattisgargh and Odisha in India, southern Madagascar and Mozambique to name a few. He has recently travelled on small group anthropological tours, visiting places and tribal communities that typically aren’t accessible to solo travellers. These trips have taken him to remote areas of North and Eastern Africa, Ladakh in northern India and the Brazilian Amazon.
Craig’s travel interests are both layered and unbridled. Along with travel and photography, he has recently developed interests in archaeology and art restoration which led him to Puglia in southern Italy. There he took part in a professional archeological dig and restoration project named Fornello, outside Altamura. With the work being supported by the Italian government as well as private donations, the Byzantium site revealed evidence of 3rd century habitation, with 3 layers of frescoes requiring delicate restoration dating from the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. Craig’s interests also extend to architecture and interior design and with his wife, they built their post-modern dream home on a quiet residential street in Vancouver. His keen eye for design has also translated into an interest in clothing design and more than a fleeting interest in fashion. In fact, when he’s not working or enjoying his light-flooded home surrounded by collectibles from his travels, you just might find him sourcing the latest “look” trends or at a local fashion show.
Craig’s mindful portrait photography has achieved international recognition through the esteemed Atlas of Humanity exhibition with shows being held in Paris, Milan and, more recently, in London (May 2025). Through what Craig sees as an incredibly supportive global photographic community, he has also been featured on numerous other platforms including Docu Magazine in Finland and FACES, The Contemporary Portrait Exhibition, hosted by The StreetSoup Team from Milan, Italy.
You can follow Craig’s journey on his Instagram @craigvictorbaulcomb.
