For many years I have worked as a photographer for newspapers and other publications in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. I have been honored with press awards and my work has been exhibited and collected internationally. 

This website highlights my personal documentary work, my labor of love.

I love to blend into a crowd with my camera, watching people for moments of solitary self expression or communal joy. Working with short lenses lets me get close to people I’m photographing, and offers a chance for conversation with strangers.

As the world becomes more digital, I continue to develop and print my own black and white film and photographs in my darkroom, simply because I love it. It makes me happy to be approached by young people with their film cameras when I am out on a photo shoot with mine.  

All prints are available for sale or exhibition; please email me for details. Thank you for visiting.

My Work
Averie Cohen holding her hands up to frame a camel
When I’m not photographing Jews—i.e., most of the time—I have an ongoing project of documenting unusual festivals, often including critter races (tarantulas, ducks, camels, zebras) and/or eating contests (Spam). One of my favorites is the annual camel and ostrich races in Virginia City, Nevada. Here I am communing with one of the camels behind the scenes (shortly before it grabbed my wrist). Even here there is a Jewish connection—an old, remote cemetery in the desert (below). More photos to come, eventually.