Athena Azevedo first discovered her love of photography at age eight; she took her very first photos with her grandmother’s autofocus point and shoot camera. Azevedo then went on to study photography in high school and moved to California at age 18, beginning to build her portfolio of street and fine art photography with her uncle’s 1966 Minolta T101, SLR 35mm camera, with a broken light meter. There, she began photographing on assignment for various non-profits and her college newspaper.
She went on to study cinema at San Francisco State University and later continued her studies in photography, film, rhetoric, and cultural studies at the University of California Berkeley. In 2009, Azevedo moved to New York City, continuing her fine art photography, and quickly became part of the New York up-and-coming post-printera photojournalist scene; working with award-winning photography organizations like Burn Magazine and The Vanderbilt Republic.
In 2013 Azevedo started working at the award winning New York based graphic design agency, IF studio; this is where she met her mentor, graphic design master Toshiaki Ide. Through IF studio, Azevedo’s photography has been featured in ad campaigns for Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, New York Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She has photographed top models Bobby Roache and Tereza Bouchalova, internationally renowned Chef Nobu, as well as portraits of significant emerging and up-and-coming artists, such as virtual reality filmmaker Eliza McNitt, painter Kristin Simmons, and choreographer Regina Miranda.
