bio

Kelly Shimoda was born in California and raised in Connecticut. Her ancestors hail from the British and Japanese isles, though her family now lives in North America. She first started taking photographs while a high school student in northwestern Connecticut, where her primary subjects were friends, children, strangers, and their respective behaviors and movements.

She has lived in Maine and Rhode Island, where she graduated from Brown University with a degree in Latin American Studies and American Civilization. Her interest in photography can be traced further back to her paternal grandfather who was arrested during World War II for possessing a 5x7 Curtis Color Camera, which the United States government believed to be a sign of subversion to the national war effort.

She has lived in Nantes, France, Golfito, Costa Rica, and Barcelona, Spain.  After successive years working in the fields of international education and communications, Kelly completed the International Center of Photography’s Program in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism in 2005.  Kelly has spent the intervening years utilizing both her grandfather’s, and her own, cameras, as she continues documenting human behavior and communication.

She has lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and now lives in Beacon, New York with her husband Neil and their cat, Pearl.  Her recent appearances include The New York Times, the Jen Bekman Gallery, CITY Magazine, PDN's Photo Annual, Le Monde 2, Visão,  and La Repubblica delle Donne, among others.