Capturing
Breath
on Film.
Carrie-Anne Moss, Los Angeles
Underneath the surface of your thoughts
is the hum of your existence. Let’s meet there.
For people in recovery
ready to create photographic evidence of your energy as you come back home to yourself.
Caitlin - Oaxaca - 2017
It’s so easy to label ourselves,
but do we actually see what’s true?
This is not a typical photo session.
I create tangible artifacts of
Breath. Heartbeat. Energy. Intention.
The film holds something you can’t quite put into words.
Evidence of what lives underneath the surface.
The truth of you.
This is devotion to yourself.
An acknowlegement of what you’ve been through and what got you here.
No poses or performing for the camera.
Nothing to prove
We create from a more honest place.
I work with a 4×5 large-format camera and film.
It’s a slow meditative process
Tactile.
It gives you time to sink into yourself.
There’s no screen to check and no image to approve.
This is an adventure in seeing what happens
when the film and your energy meet.
I invite unpredictability,
using a stack of books as my tripod.
The “bookpod” is made of your books and mine.
Bring what means the most.
We’ll see what happens when the camera shifts slightly
as I load it with film.
Bring intentions you’d like to set at this moment in your life.
Things you’re releasing and calling in
You can write them down and put them inside a book.
Use the Bookpod
to hold things you will remember
when you see the photograph.
I take a long exposure of you. 4 seconds, 8 seconds,
It depends on the location and the light.
The film collects what’s unseen and unsaid
I believe that film carries the intentions you bring, the energy in the room,
The camera knows things.
What emerges
is something that could only belong to you:
a visual record of
your own rhythm, hum, energy, frequency, song.
“Some of my most transcendent experiences were in front of Catherine’s camera.”
Danielle LaPorte
“This isn’t just about beautiful photos, though it is: it’s about seeing your own power and being in your body & claiming your space in this world. It’s worth every penny and more.”
Holly Whitaker
Why I work this way
I've been fascinated by what lives underneath the surface, and in between the words, since I got sober from a meth addiction at 18.
I picked up a camera and began using it to interpret what I could feel but couldn't always name. I still do.
After 39 years of sobriety, a personal apprenticeship with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, decades of making and exhibiting my photographs internationally, being a single parent to my son Max, who has Down syndrome, and years of somatic practice and meditation, I'm still fascinated by the same thing:
What's underneath all the noise?
Underneath the stories we tell about ourselves.
Underneath who we think we're supposed to be.
Underneath the performance.
Meet me there.
I want to photograph that.
The Origin Story
Capturing Breath on film started in 2016 when my son Max was 7. I intended for this to be a year long offering to celebrate 30 years of sobriety. I’m now in between my 39th and 40th year sober and Capturing Breath on Film has come along with me becoming part of my life’s work.
Each Capturing Breath experience is created by hand using a large-format camera and film, professionally processed, scanned in high resolution, and made into archival photographic prints.
45 MINUTES · $850
A focused Capturing Breath experience.
One one-of-a-kind 4×5 photograph
Signed + dated
High-resolution scan
2 HOURS · $2,000
The experience I recommend.
After the Capturing Breath 4×5 session, I bring in Polaroid, medium format + whatever else I’m inspired to use, and we keep creating.
2 one-of-a-kind 4×5 photographs
1 framed 11×14 silver gelatin print
All signed + dated
Polaroids + medium-format images included as physical originals, contact sheets and/or high-resolution scans.
TWO-DAY
Capturing Breath on Film
Immersion
From $10,000 · By inquiry
Paris · November 2026
I’ll be bringing Capturing Breath on Film to Paris this November,
with Los Angeles, London + additional dates to be announced soon.
I offer a limited number of sessions in each city.
Join the list for first access when booking opens.
I travel for private sessions and commissions outside of my schedule.
If you have a specific date in mind or are working around a deadline, an album cover, book, anniversary,
or something that matters to you, email studio@catherinejust.com
Cathryn · Mallorca, Spain · 2024
Travel Darkroom Supplies
Mallorca
Travel Darkroom
Mallorca
Los Angeles · Paris · London · Wherever this takes us.
Upcoming dates + session availability announced through the list first.
If something here is pulling at you, pay attention.