Through Our Lens
A Photo Essay series created in partnership with Las Fotos Project's Creative Career Center (CCC) and the Black Image Center (BIC) as part of the Community Residencies program.
Program Overview
The Ford, Las Fotos Project (LFP) and Black Image Center (BIC) are piloting a collaboration that brings emerging professional photographers to highlight the artistic processes of select performing artists. This collaboration is part of The Ford's Community Residencies program. Through collaborative efforts with local youth-oriented organizations, Community Residencies aims to enable organizations to broaden the opportunities available for youth-centered career development in the arts.
As we enter this pilot partnership program with LFP CCC and BIC, we hope you enjoy the Photo Essays created by the 2025 Cohort.
About Las Fotos Project
Las Fotos Project is a photography mentoring nonprofit located in Boyle Heights that utilizes the power of photography to encourage students to explore their identity, community, and future careers. Las Fotos Project’s Creative Career Center leverages participants’ skills and knowledge to provide emerging professionals aged 19-25 with a valuable network of professional development opportunities to advance their careers in the creative industry.
About Black Image Center
Black Image Center is a Los Angeles-based community photography space committed to uplifting LA's Black storytellers through community, educational programming, and job opportunities. Their mission is to reclaim stories, establish pipelines to the creative industry, and build ongoing legacies by preserving LA's Black history.
This program is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
Meet the Photographers
Congratulations to this season’s Through Our Lens Cohort!
Caitlin Jane Calica
Caitlin Jane “CJ” Calica is a mixed media photographer with a strong desire to be understood. Her crafty side and the digital world collaborate to create an image of the world around her. She expresses her emotions and ideas in works of collaging and overlays drawings within her photographs to represent the never-ending changes in her life. She began her photography journey with Las Fotos Project two years ago and has grown to appreciate the art of editorial photography and beauty marketing. She aims to capture the perfect moment, one that makes you stop and stare.
Evelina Gabrielle Perez
Evelina Gabrielle Perez is a queer Mexican American photographer from Whittier, California. Blending cultural depth with artistic innovation, her practice is driven by a passion for connection and analog processes. Her work is rooted in identity, community, and self-expression. She thrives at the intersection of art, fashion, photography, and music. For her, every project offers the chance to push creative boundaries and foster inspiring connections with others.
Ruth Gutierrez
As a queer photographer from Highland Park, Ruth Gutierrez has been a lover of art since she was little. Constantly experimenting with different mediums like fashion and painting, she uses her own bedroom to showcase her latest creations. Getting inspiration from movie clips, magazines, and the world as a whole, Ruth likes to mess with the things she sees and make it
Catherine Rodriguez
Catherine “Cat” Rodriguez is a first-generation Mexican American studying Design and Media Arts at UCLA and began their photographic journey with their mom’s old film cameras. Their love of the arts has no end, so they continue to explore new mediums whenever possible—painting, graphic design, and vocal performance, to name a few. Cat believes that creation for emotional and communal expression is vital to society. With the discovery of Las Fotos Project in 2020, Cat has further focused their visual crafts, vulnerability, and explorations of life, culture, and community through photography.
Yemi Seyi
Yemi Seyi (he/him) is a social practice artist, working in archive, portraiture, documentary photography, filmmaking, and is based in Pasadena, California. A Black Image Center alum, Yemi’s photography and film work explore spatiality, spirituality, the history of social movements and bodies in states of transit. His community archival practice exists in conjunction with his work at The Center for Restorative Justice.
Ashleigh Simons
Ashleigh, also known as Ash, Simons’ artistic vision continuously evolves. Her goal is to find new ways to convey her unique imagination. Ash is in her thirties living in Los Angeles. Routinely she strives to learn new analog techniques to depict her artistic vision. She is earnest in developing new procedures in alternative film processing to better her craft. Ash believes in building an image instead of relying mainly on digital tools; she processes and develops her own film, and scans, edits, then prints her own work.
Virtual Gallery
Enjoy the selected work of the Through Our Lens Cohort.