WE ARE SIX PHOTOGRAPHERS—David Walter Banks, Kendrick Brinson, Matt Eich, Kevin German, Daryl Peveto and Matt Slaby—unified by a search for answers in an often abstract and rapidly evolving global environment. We seek to understand the emotional resonance of each situation we chance upon, depicting the people and places we encounter with empathy, respect and curiosity.
Together we form LUCEO Images, a photographer owned and operated cooperative established with the goal of supporting the significant work of its members. LUCEO believes that photography is about dialogue, discussion and shared ideas. It is with this belief that LUCEO reaches out beyond its group to build relationships with other individuals and collectives. Our hope is to build a network of partnerships that allow us opportunities to fulfill our goals and to offer unique products and services to our clients.
Over the course of a year the members of LUCEO will collaborate with curator Graham Letorney to publish a column titled, Diary of a Photographer in Visura Magazine. Throughout the twenty-four posts, we will have room for introspection about life, love and our often complicated relationship with the creative process and the constraints of photography in particular. At the root of our photography is a deeply personal connection that we will try to begin to understand for ourselves during this bi-weekly column. Whether we are chasing after memory, hope, or a feeling, this outlet will let us strip our individual intentions and motivations down to its core. We invite you to become a part of this soul-searching and to engage us in a dialogue about how we can push our craft forward.
About the members of LUCEO
David Walter Banks is an American born photographer living in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a conceptually based documentary and portrait photographer. His work is aimed at questioning the way in which we view the everyday reality around us. Banks was a candidate for the 2009 and 2010 PDN30, and his work was recognized by the 2009 Magenta Foundation Flash Forward 2009 census of emerging photographers. His work was exhibited at the 2009 LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph and most recently at the Aperture Gallery in New York and an upcoming show at the Houston Center for Photography. David’s clients have included The New York Times, Stern Magazine, TIME Magazine, US News & World Report, GQ, Bombay Sapphire, Forbes Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, The FADER Magazine, Golf Digest, Spin Magazine, XXL Magazine, Sporting News, Interscope Records, IEEE Spectrum Magazine, Bloomberg News and Atlanta Magazine.
Kendrick Brinson is a photographer based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She worked full-time as an intern and a staff photographer for newspapers for three and a half years after receiving a journalism degree from the University of Georgia in 2005. In 2009, she left the world of being a staff photographer to pursue personal projects and to work full-time with LUCEO Images. Her current photographic interests include exploring the Deep South as well as aging in the retirement paradise of Sun City, Arizona in its 50th anniversary year. Her clients include Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Magazine, New Scientist, US News & World Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times, among others. Her images have appeared on The Today Show, ABC News, in People Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Washington Times, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Boston Globe, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette and more.
Matt Eich was raised in the peanut-farming town of Suffolk, Virginia before he began his studies in photojournalism at Ohio University in 2004. His life and the focus of his work shifted dramatically when his daughter Madelyn was born in October 2007. The following summer of 2008, Matt interned with National Geographic Magazine, traveling to Peru, India, Rwanda and Botswana before returning to Ohio to complete his degree. While finishing school Matt began working as a freelance photographer. His clients include Newsweek, Mother Jones, TIME, Harper’s, The FADER, National Geographic, Smithsonian, More, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Businessweek, US News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Apple, The Canadian Opera Company and others. In 2009 Matt won POYi’s Community Awareness Award, The Magenta Foundation’s Bright Spark Award, was a finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Grant and was selected for the 16th World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. In 2010 he was awarded the HCP Juried Fellowship at the Houston Center For Photography, a 2nd place in POYi 67, was named one of PDN’s 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch and received the F25 Award for Concerned Photography and the National Geographic Innovation in Storytelling Grant. Matt and his family now live in Norfolk, Virginia where he works on long-term projects while compulsively documenting everything around him.
Kevin German studied photography and journalism at Washington State University. He worked for 5 years in newspapers from California to Florida. In 2008, he left the staff of The Sacramento Bee and moved to Southeast Asia to focus on humanitarian documentaries. That same year, he co-founded the collective Luceo Images. He is based out of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He has won numerous awards from the Pictures of the Year competition. In 2005 he was named Illinois Press Photographer of the Year. In 2009 he was named Southern Photographer of the Year. His clients include Bloomberg News, CityPass Guide, CNN Traveller, Edge Asia, Eyemazing, Forbes, International Trucking, Johnnie Walker, Monocle Magazine, National Geographic, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Asia, Time, SNOB, Vanity Fair, Windsor Plaza Hotel.
Daryl Peveto is a photographer with a passion for social documentary storytelling. He is a graduate of the Visual Journalism Program at Brooks Institute, where he interned at The Ventura County Star and the San Diego Union-Tribune. Over the last few years he has worked issues ranging from American nomads to the black market economies of Peru to active octogenarians, which has been recognized by Photo District News, College Photographer of the Year and the National Press Photographers Association. He lives in Southern California with his wife Jennifer and their son Finn Maddox. His clients have included TIME Magazine, Newsweek, FADER Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, AARP, Der Spiegel, Verdens Gang, The New York Times, MSNBC, NBC NIghtly News, ABC Television and Marriott Hotels.
Matt Slaby is a photographer based in Denver, Colorado. Before turning his attention to photography, he traveled the western United States as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service Hotshots also working winters as an EMT with a metropolitan ambulance service. Slaby interned at U.S. News & World Report covering the 2006 congressional elections and the Washington, D.C. political circuit, including the White House and U.S. Capitol. He has a background in writing and literature and holds a J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Slaby brings his diverse background to the field of photography and journalism and is particularly passionate about making the unique and multidimensional culture of his home in the western United States accessible to a broader audience. Slaby’s current body of work has received honors from PDN, American Photography, Communication Arts, Center, and LOOKBetween. A selection of his clients includes U.S. News & World Report, Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, Mother Jones, The Bureau of Land Management, Audubon Magazine, National Public Radio, Days Japan, The National Interagency Fire Center, The Department of Defense Military Health System, BD, Discovery Communications, and Human Rights Campaign.
