about
natasha lee
art director / picture maker / peanut butter enthusiast
Natasha sees life through an evocative lens, whether she is bungee jumping off a bridge in New Zealand or scouring the farmer’s market for heirloom tomatoes and honey roasted peanut butter. Her eye for design, framing, and storytelling is evidenced in the delicate expansiveness of her photographs. Using her background in film as a reference point, her images are as diverse in mood and story as her unique photographic journey.
Natasha’s journey began in a tiny hospital in Nevada, where the first thing that her doctor noticed was that she, in fact, had a birthmark shaped like a camera, or maybe a strawberry. After ruling out the strawberry, and considering the possibility that it was the Virgin Mary, they returned a penitent letter to the Vatican stating that, in fact, it was a camera shaped birthmark.
To begin, she transferred from UC Berkeley to Otis College of Art & Design where she began developing her visual style while studying Digital Media. Dividing her time between the photo studio and computer lab, it didn’t take long for her work to be noticed, and she interned at Anonymous Content during her 2nd year, where she worked on commercials and music videos and fell in love with the genre. Her interest in storytelling led her to fashion where she has created memorable images for the Audrey Magazine, where she shot the cover story of Lindsay Price from Lipstick Jungle, as well as many other up-and-coming celebrities. Her fashion spreads have graced a multitude of periodicals including People Magazine, LA Direct, and 13 Minutes.
Before claiming her visual destiny, she lived her own version of the book “Eat.Pray.Love”. One day, she received a prophecy from the woman giving her a French manicure that told her fortune, and said she would one day return. She also talked her into buying some bold metallic sandals accompanied by an eclectic mixtape. Natasha couldn't resist. Taking the French manicure to heart, she journeyed to France where she became an apprentice for a French Macaroon maker known only as “Les Mac” and rode a sugar high for a year until she switched to green tea. She then journeyed to Thailand, where she meditated, wrapped herself in a full body leaf poultice, and rode a trapeze to find enlightenment. Upon returning to the nail salon at the end of her quest, the manicurist just shook her head and said, “You very tan”. Natasha realized that she had to follow her birth sign.
Her work has made it’s mark on the industry, due to her well rounded background in design, film, and photography. She has designed for notable companies such as The Kellwood Company, BCBGMAXAZRIA, New Wave Entertainment, and Troika Design Group. Ultimately she is prepared to fuse her skills in film, design, and photography to direct branded content. Picked as one of fifteen directors accepted into Spotlab in 2008, she has been able to hone her skills towards this end.
After a brief relocation to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Natasha is back in Southern California, enjoying every minute of the ocean breeze in Santa Monica. She constantly wonders where her life would have ended up had she been born with a strawberry birthmark instead of a camera.