KIT KARZEN

Kit Karzen is a documentary and unit still photographer based in Los Angeles. Born in New York City to a copywriter and a photographer, he was encouraged early on to explore the world with unwavering curiosity. His first experience behind the camera came while directing his high school’s weekly news broadcast — a formative experience that sparked a lifelong interest in storytelling.

Rather than attending college, Kit spent years racing track bikes around the world with the U.S. National Team. After retiring from the sport, he joined the global marketing team at Oakley, one of his longtime sponsors. In 2015, a mass corporate layoff changed his course. He invested his entire severance in used camera equipment and set out to document the social, political, and environmental issues shaping the world around him. A year later, he was on the frontlines at Standing Rock, photographing the Route 1806 bridge conflict for CNN.

Today, Kit works across documentary photography, film, and television, guided by a curiosity about people and the worlds they inhabit. His assignments have taken him from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign to the COVID-19 frontlines for the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, from LGBTQ+ youth finding community at Camp Brave Trails to the athletes challenging racial inequity in professional cycling with L39ION of Los Angeles. His ongoing documentation of the gay rodeo community explores the intersection of queer identity, Western traditions, and belonging.

Alongside his documentary practice, Kit is an IATSE Local 600 still photographer working across film and television productions.

His photographs have appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, NYLON, and Playboy, and his work has been exhibited by institutions including The Autry Museum of the American West. His contributions to Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football have earned him a Sports Emmy Award, while his documentation of Camp Brave Trails received commendations from the American Camp Association.

When not behind the camera, Kit can usually be found riding motorcycles, playing dodgeball, tracking down classic diners with all-day breakfast, or occasionally confronting his fear of heights.

Affiliations & Certifications

IATSE Local 600 Still Photographer

FAA-Certified Drone Pilot

Hostile Environments & First Aid Trained

National Press Photographers Association

American Photographic Artists

Clients

Amazon Studios, Blumhouse, Brave Trails, CBS Studios, CNN, Crooked Media, Harris for President 2024, L39ION of Los Angeles, Lionsgate, Los Angeles Times, NBC Nightly News, Netflix, Natural Resource Defense Council, New Belgium Brewing, Nike, Oakley, Playboy, Roku, SRAM, Team USA, The Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros.

Selected Honors

Sports Emmy Award – Thursday Night Football

Collections: The Autry Museum of the American West