Bio

Nancy Kaye is a freelance photographer in Los Angeles, previously based in New York City and London.

The core of Nancy’s professional background is in photojournalism, having worked for a variety of news companies, among them The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Associated Press. For more than 25 years, she has brought a narrative style to her editorial, commercial, portraiture, event, and fine art photography.

Nancy’s photographs have been published in a number of books, among them the bestseller Wired by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster), The History of American Ceramics (Abrams), and El Pueblo (Getty Publications). Her portrait of the author Ralph Ellison appears on the cover of Raft of Hope (University of Kentucky Press), a book about Ellison’s writing.

Her work has been part of several national juried competitions, and her photographs have won several awards. In addition to her freelance work, Nancy teaches photography at Los Angeles Valley College and Culver City Adult School, and leads independent photo groups.

Many of her assignments have been location portrait sessions with authors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and political figures. Please contact Nancy for a complete list.

Artist Statement

Photography enables me to combine my interests in art and sociology, recording my observations of what may otherwise go unnoticed, finding something meaningful in what we often see superficially.

I strive to communicate through my photography what I observe of human behavior—honest, unposed, unaltered, and often with humor.

Of particular interest to me in making photographs is the unique ability of the camera to freeze a moment in time—to capture the interaction between people and their environment, or a fleeting facial expression, or a passing quality of light.

A photograph can, in the short term, capture a slice of life, and, over time, offer a perspective on the past. Whether a photograph shows a moment within a scene or a moment in history, my goal is to preserve it in a visually captivating way.