Zen By Cat is dedicated to raising both awareness and money in the fight against FIP to help save cat’s lives. When Peter, the founder of Zen By Cat, bought his house in 1998 two cats were already living in his yard, and he adopted them. Over the years the adoptions continued and the number of cats grew to 24, the number it is today. Peter, having an extensive background in construction, transformed his home by installing intricate, colorful catwalks on his walls. These additions also continued over the years and now there are catwalks in all the rooms in his home, along with other features such as a coy pond and a ‘kitty room.’ Peter’s home has also been featured in Netflix’s “Amazing Interiors.” You can learn more about the foundation here.
Read Moreportraits
Allie Holton
I came into the shoot with an open mind and approach. We started with a clean slate and started layering emotions and fragments of stories that we came up with together. At some point during our shoot, I started to see emotions and feelings coming through Allie that I had just experienced myself--things that I'm still working through.
When you start to see yourself moving, feeling, and reacting right in front of your eyes through somebody else it feels so magical.
Read MoreGraham Shafer
I recently filmed Los Angeles based musician Graham Shafer performing two songs from his debut album, Where the Light Came Through. In between takes, I was able to capture this still of Graham. It's a great album and it was beautiful to hear him sing live.
Read MoreKeta Meggett
Portraits of Keta Meggett also known as Keta Rush from Women of Wrestling (WOW). Keta has an incredible story of perseverance and courage that I couldn't properly sum up in one post. Keta took PTSD from a serious trauma and turned into a successful career as an actress, pro-wrestler, Muay Thai & Jiujitsu fighter, and anti-bullying activist. She runs Team Bully Buster, a self defense program that helps young people protect themselves in dangerous situations. You can also see Keta as Rayna on HBO'S Room 104. Keta is truly an inspiration.
Portrait Published in Girl Gaze Book
I'm grateful to have my image of Devon included in the Girl Gaze book (out now) alongside such beautiful work with great meaning and substance. When I made this portrait, I didn't know what was going in Devon's life. We had met just a few minutes earlier and I was struck by his kindness and warmth. It wasn't until some time had passed that he shared with me what he was experiencing then and how it came through in his photo. In Devon's words:
"This picture was taken at a time in my life where everything was going wrong and I couldn't see it getting better anytime soon. I lost a lot of weight, I was depressed, and I was recovering from plastic surgery I had on my face from a car accident. I was living in a city where I had no family, no real friends, and was stuck in a failing relationship. I was booking a lot of modeling jobs, but my checks would never come on time, they were less than what I was supposed to get, or they just didn't come at all. There was one photo shoot that I did that I was really excited about; I had a huge billboard in West Hollywood on Melrose for this photographer's studio. I told my mom about it and that I was all settled into my new place in West Hollywood. She was taking a trip to Las Vegas and wanted to stop by to see me on her way there. A few days before she came to visit me I found out that my billboard was taken down because a new store was opening and they needed to put their signage up. There was also something that went wrong in my apartment so I had to throw out all of my furniture and most of my things away. My eyes were also affected somehow by my surgery; they were dry, extremely itchy, and blood shot red. I told my mom that I was doing fine in the new city that I moved to, but that was far from the truth and this picture is a visual representation of how my life was going. I had nothing. I felt empty, broken, and defeated. The only thing I looked forward to was seeing my mom, but I did not want her to see me in this condition."
I want to thank Devon Walker for being so open and trusting me. Thank you to the Girl Gaze Project, Amanda de Cadenet, Lynsey Addario, Inez van Lamsweerde, and Sam Taylor Johnson for the opportunity and everything that you do for the creative community. Do yourself a favor and purchase this beautiful book by Rizzoli on Amazon!
*Cover photo by Amber Zeekaf with book design by Su Barber.
These are more photos of Devon that we made together.
#girlgaze
Alexis
Alexis Ordonez with Next LA
Raymond Allen Burlew III
Preview of Editorial for Rogue Magazine
Here's a preview of my editorial for Rogue Magazine's issue 6. The models for this shoot were Sam Evans with Next LA whom I always love working with and the very talented Allie Holton with Nous Models. Wardrobe styling by the very stylish Sabrina Che. Hair and makeup by the wonderful Kenye Hart.
It was great working with horses on this. The day felt magical..
Issue 6 of Rogue Magazine should be hitting newsstands soon!
Ben Dahlhaus
I recently worked with model Ben Dahlhaus with Next LA, PMA Hamburg, and Models 1 London. While I do love conceptualizing and planning my shoots, I occasionally will do more of a spontaneous shoot with nothing planned ahead of time. I find that these type of shoots help keep my mind open to the creative process and connect me even closer to my intuition. Hair by Kenye Hart and wardrobe by Betty Barajas.
Pierson
I made some portraits of Pierson Williams at Next Models LA. Pierson has done a lot of commercial campaigns with companies like Nike and Adidas. For our time together, I sought to capture something more personal.
Girlgaze Exhibition at the Annenberg Space for Photography
I am happy to announce that I am part of the Girl Gaze exhibition currently being held at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Girl Gaze is a multi-media project founded by Amanda de Cadenet and is supported by Inez van Lamsveerde, Amber Valletta, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Lynsey Addario, and Collier Schorr. At the opening night, Amanda discussed the importance of media platforms embracing imagery from a female perspective and it was inspiring.
Whether you care or don't care about fashion and art, it is irrelevant when it comes to the significant effects that these industries actually have on your sense of self and the different roles you perceive people having or being capable of having in society. Listen, I love the work of many male photographers and continue to do so. However when one group dominates the image making process, as is the case with the photography industry, the results are images that cater to that one group and how they see the world. You become conditioned to believe in expectations that may not represent your experience in life and contribute to a feeling that you're always coming up short. At that point it's not about your experience but what someone else thinks it should be. There is a difference between a story being told by a main character versus a bystander. And personally, I enjoy seeing a woman for who she is and how she sees the world and not what she's been told to be.
Here are some photos from the opening night!
Sibling
There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.
-Anna Quindlen
Models: Joshua Wilson with Next Models, Dayne Eigner with M
Wardrobe Stylist: Sabrina Che
"My Skin, My Body" featured on Udee (part 3)
My photo series, My Skin, My Body is being featured on Udee for a second installment. In the series, I photograph women in nature with no retouching. The feature includes an interview I did with Fahamisha Thompson who sat in for the series. Udee is doing some amazing things and I'm so honored to be a part of it! See the link below for the feature!
http://udee.co/skin-body-part-3/
Dean Michael
Dean Michael with Next Models LA
Co-ruminators
Photography by Kat Kaye
Models: Leah Peterson & Claire Layman @ Hoffman Models, Kansas City
Hair & Makeup: Paige Pelfrey
Dedicated to a friend I once had. While the world we constructed and inhabited was quite small, at least we could be alone together.
Video coming soon
Shaun
I recently had the pleasure of making some portraits of one of my favorite models, the ever inspiring Shaun Ross.
"My Skin, My Body" featured on Udee (part 2)
My photo series, My Skin, My Body is being featured on Udee for a second installment. In the series, I photograph women in nature with no retouching. The feature includes an interview I did with Anette Puskas who sat in for the series. Udee is doing some amazing things and I'm so honored to be a part of it! See the link below for the feature!
http://udee.co/skin-body-part-2/
PRIDE 2016
I just had the privilege of photographing this year's PRIDE festival in West Hollywood. It was an incredible experience and I can't begin to describe what a great sense of love I witnessed and FELT. How wonderful would it be if everyone could always feel this free to be who they are, wherever we may be.
Zoe
A few images from a commissioned shoot for Zoe's agencies in Asia.
Commissioned Portraits
I was commissioned to make some portraits of hair stylist extraordinaire Julie Daniel, who also works as a national design artist for Neuma Beauty. You can get in touch with Julie through her website www.JulieDanielHair.com.