I am an Oakland based photographer with a multidisciplinary background spanning community mental health, social work, and nonprofit arts. After a decade working in these fields, I moved into full time freelance photography.
Human relationships, photography as collaboration, feminist identity, and self-exploration are central to my work. My practice explores themes of belonging, identity, imagination, and photography as witness.
Working across film, digital photography, and alternative processes, my work spans portraiture, travel, weddings, cyanotypes, and community-based projects.
In 2025, I created Photo Saloon, a photography gathering rooted in collectivity, creative exchange, and the uplift of local Bay Area women+ photographers. I also work with Women Photo Tours leading creative exchanges abroad.
I am available for editorial, travel, portrait, and documentary assignments locally and worldwide.
catherinecoppenrath@gmail.com
ohlone land / oakland, ca
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS + CURATORIAL
2026 | GUTS! A Group Photography Exhibition | Pretty Gritty SF | San Francisco, CA
2026 | Curator for Wild Tongues: A Group Photography Exhibition | Happy House | San Francisco, CA
2025 | Group Photography Exhibition | Jettison Creative | San Francisco, CA
2018 | 10th Annual Dia De La Mujer Exhibition | The Front Arte Cultura | San Ysidro, CA
2018 | Women In Light | San Diego City College | San Diego, CA
2017 | Ladies First - An All Female Group Show | San Diego, CA
2016 | B&W Analog Group Show | San Diego, CA
PROJECTS + COMMUNITY PRACTICE
2025–ongoing | Photo Saloon
An Oakland-based photography community centering women, non-binary, trans, and gender-expansive photographers through gatherings, exhibitions, artist conversations, and creative exchange.
2019 | Being At Home Project
A participatory photography and storytelling project using workshops and community engagement to explore and celebrate life within one of San Diego’s most culturally diverse neighborhoods.
2018 | The Power of Empathy
A participatory photography project centering high school-aged East African Muslim women and their perspectives on mental health, culture, and community. Created through workshops and conversations with transborder youth and exhibited at the San Diego Art Institute.
2018 | The Civil Liberties Project
A participatory photography project exploring counter-narrative and civil liberties in the United States through stories surrounding DACA, gender politics, and immigration. Exhibited at The Front Arte Cultura in San Ysidro.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2026 | Wild Tongues Magazine
2026 | MEMORY CULT Magazine Issue 02