Self Portrait by Dom Ducote

 

Dom Ducote

I’m 25, born and raised in Utah. I’ve been a photographic artist for roughly 10 years. I’m self-taught. I started shooting as a form of therapy, and I can say with certainty that I would not be here today without photography. From the time I was 16 years old, every evening I would grab one of my cameras and photograph the streets of St. George, and every weekend I would grab one of my cameras and go photograph the desert. I used photography to distract myself from suicidal ideation, to reshape the way I saw the world and to reaffirm my place in it. Along with other therapeutic tactics and personal revelations, the camera showed me that there is beauty to be seen and felt all around us, all the time, if you know how to see it and how to allow yourself to feel it. This is a view I’ve held for almost the entirety of my career as an artist. It’s pushed me to photograph every subject imaginable, and to settle for nothing less than perfection, regardless of what the subject in front of my lens may be. I approach a product shoot with the same level of skill and respect that I do for conceptual portraiture, or intimate landscape, because I believe a photographic artists core responsibility is to appreciate and understand beauty in all its forms, not just to capture it. Understanding why a picture deserves to be taken is equally as important as understanding how to take it.

Achievements and publications

  • Senior Photographer at Walker Edison

  • Worked as Lighting Director for Badson Winter 2024 Clothing Drop (model photographs exclusively)

  • Interview with SLUG Magazine in November 2024

  • Lavender Haze and A Look of Disapproval featured in One Shot to Rule Them All, August 2023 and 2024. Honorable Mention vote for A Look of Disapproval from two judges in the August 2024 show.

  • Solo Exhibition, Chroma at Essential Photo Supply, September 2024. Chroma is a collection of 26 of my most colorful photographs. 13 images were framed in vintage frames with vivid personality, each one reflecting and complimenting the color and emotions within the photographs they encased. 13 different photographs were selected for small print display/purchase.

  • The Essence of Grandma featured in grand opening of The Gala, October 2024.

  • I’ve self published two photography books, Clarity & Fog, and Scofield. Clarity is a collection of landscape imagery from Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP, the book emphasizes the contrast between the two locations and serves as a reflection of my mental state during the time of shooting. Scofield is a collection of images and written memories from Scofield, Utah, the town where my grandparents built their home, the home they were eventually forced to sell.

  • Work featured in a few collaborative photographic projects created by Andrew McClees

  • Work featured in Whalebone Magazine’s Photography Issue (2022)

  • A photograph I shot for Walker Edison was featured as the header image in a USA Today article.