About Kate Lapides-Black

Kate is a longtime freelance photojournalist and writer who also does graphic design and videos and prefers life at around 10,000 feet. Passionate about running, mountains, community, human rights, and dog-friendly spaces, she is a profound believer in the capacity of thoughtful photography to humanize complex issues and empower marginalized communities around the world.

For many years, Kate put her cameras to work documenting stories including rural poverty for Save the Children; post-war UNHCR refugee camps on the Guinean-Sierra Leone border for the International Rescue Committee; and children receiving life-changing reconstructive surgery operations in Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, Laos, and Peru for Resurge International. She has also documented the journey of Somali immigrants adapting to new lives in Maine and the story of a once paralyzed shelter dog named Ernie who recovered to walk and paddle board. She was awarded two Individual Artist grants from the Colorado Council on the Arts for community photography projects she created for new immigrants and Native American children in rural Colorado and Wyoming; has been a Women in Photojournalism National Juried Show finalist; and was a visiting instructor for Anderson Ranch Arts Center’s youth summer workshop programs from 2010-2013.

Since 2016, Kate has primarily worked as the Director of Communications for For the Good, documenting their work with Maasai communities in Kenya in words, video and still images and also crafting the organization’s website, print collateral and strategic fundraising campaigns. Every day she’s profoundly grateful to live in a Colorado mountain town where she gets to be the human of a beloved soulful reservation rescue dog named Kaia and partner to an incredibly kindhearted mate named Eric with whom she has spent countless hours running up and down a lot of mountains in Colorado and the Swiss and French Alps, which were Eric’s first home.

The Nuts and Bolts

Education:

BA in Humanities from Fort Lewis College
Advanced Photography Certificate from the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies
Master’s degree in International Development Practice (MDP) from Regis University

CERTIFICATIONS:

EMT-B certification (2005-2014): Utilized during five years of seasonal work at a busy Level 5 Trauma Center at Breckenridge Ski Area
RYT-200 Yoga Instructor (2014)
Sustainable Community Development Certificate (2016), Colorado State University

Clients/Publications (Partial List):

Save the Children, The International Rescue Committee, Resurge International, The Maine Humanities Council, Colorado Mountain College, For the Good, Fundación Esperanza, BuildingHope (Faces of Hope Project - 2017), The Family Intercultural Resource Center,
Amazing Grace, Breckenridge magazine, Diversions magazine, Mountain Gazette, The Mountain View Voice, Mountain Women magazine, OutsideOnline, The Palo Alto Weekly, Roaring Fork Lifestyles magazine, The Silverton Mountain Journal, The Summit Daily, The Summit Foundation, and Women’s Adventure magazine.

All images copyright Kate Lapides.