Meet Our Team

Mike
Retail Stores Manager
Park Ave Store Supervisor
Joining Bay Photo in 1998, Mike has grown the retail stores into Santa Cruz' preeminent photography resource. With his dedication to building lasting relationships with customers, Mike brings a sense of community to the stores. Having many years of professional photography experience under his belt, Mike can help you realize any photo project you bring into the shop. His film camera knowledge is second only to his record collection so come to Park Ave and chat about photography or the great music you hear playing in the store.

Oliver
Branciforte Store Supervisor
Graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Visual Art, Oliver is a photographer who applies his skills and knowledge to create beautiful images for Bay Photo customers. His expertise is focused on film photography of all formats, but his know-how applies to all aspects of art and printing. His hobbies include repairing old film cameras and drinking too much coffee for his own good. If you have a question about the film camera you just bought at the thrift store, or you just want to learn more about film photography in general, come visit him at the Branciforte store!

Nick
Park Ave Store Lead
Product Development
Working as a fine art portrait photographer before joining the Park Ave team, Nick brings his deep knowledge of photo retouching and film/digital shooting to the job. Nick brainstorms new technologies and workflows for the retail stores. When he isn’t in the lab you can find him on graveyard photo walks, listening to symphonic metal, and shooting weddings on film.

Lauren
Lab Tech
Social Media
Captivated by film photography and the sea, Lauren spends most of her present days figuring out the underwater photography scene. Her artistic style is heavily influenced by dream-like blurs, grain, grit, and the way that good music makes her feel.

Kelly
Retail Stores Inventory Lead
Kelly started her photographic journey by taking photo classes at Cabrillo College and working at Bay Photo in the early 2000s. She loved to take experimental photos of models covered in various food stuffs, or take long night exposures, as well as the occasional landscape. After a long hiatus to raise her daughter, she returned to Bay Photo to work in inventory and as a film technician.

Carter
Park Ave Lead
Carter takes pix
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Patricia
Lab Tech
Patricia is a student at UCSC who has a passion for art and digital media. She enjoys documenting nature, specifically wildlife in Santa Cruz County. In her spare time Patricia eats the film strips abandoned at Bay Photo. If you have questions about digital art or the occult she may have answers on both.

Christian
Lab Tech
Clean, good teeth, up to date with his shots.

Zed
Lab Tech
Zed was born and bred in the Santa Cruz mountains. Raised by skaters and surf photography, they enjoy extra long beach days, old folk songs, and collaging vintage Playboys on their days off. They don't bite so come say hi!

Xadani
Lab Tech
Shoots lots of film. Born and raised in Santa Cruz. Point n' Shoot enthusiast since 2004.

Jacob
Lab Tech
I'm from Santa Cruz. I love the color sand. I like to eat bread and sometimes I take photos.

Estella
Lab Tech
Estella likes DIY haircuts and taking pictures of cold-blooded house pets on film. She also sometimes takes pictures of people.

Kelsey
Lab Tech
Kelsey is a hybrid photographer who specializes in both digital and film photography. A camera landed in her lap about a decade ago and she hasn't put it down since. She really enjoys the connection and storytelling photography creates and is very grateful to pursue this craft. Her work is focused on capturing the fleeting moments that are meant to stay with us. If you'd like to see more of her work feel free to check out her website: kelseyblankenship-photography.com

Cate
Lab Tech
Cate loves film and mostly shoots in black and white. She is also interested in analog alternative process photography. She is currently an art student at Cabrillo College and spends a lot of time in the darkroom.

Kai
Lab Tech
Kai is a SoCal multimedia artist who absolutely loves shooting film and sharing none of the pictures with anyone. Kai is studying Game Design at UCSC and can be heard on FM radio sometimes. In his free time, Kai enjoys billiards, bowling, biking, playing violin, driving stick, HAM radio stuff, and otherwise being a well-meaning bumper car. Not vegan.

Daniel
Lab Tech
Daniel turns negatives into positives!

Will
Lab Tech
Will is a Santa Cruz native born in raised. He is a lifelong photographer now working in the more experimental side of photography. You can often find a wild Will out under clear dark night skies doing astrophotography, one of his favorite ways to do photography. In his spare time he also loves to spend time outside hiking.