Kate Lutaya: The Soft Edge of Vision
- Filip
- May 8
- 4 min read
Kate Lutaya doesn’t just take pictures — she captures the quiet, often unseen rhythms of human honesty. Based in Berlin, born in Ukraine, and shaped by a life in constant motion, she creates photographic worlds that blur documentary realism, performance, and emotional intimacy.
“Photography gives me a way to experience life. That’s what I want to hold onto.”
Her work is understated yet intense — equal parts playful and raw — steeped in a strange, quiet glamour that asks you to linger longer than expected. Whether shooting offbeat portraits, queer characters, or stylized self-portraits, she reveals something deeper: the moment before the pose, the breath before the idea, the space where identity flickers rather than settles.
This is a photographer not chasing trends, but chasing truth. And often, that truth begins with herself.
The Early Click: Staged Stories, Sisterhood, and Rick Owens Rooms
Kate’s journey into photography didn’t begin with a plan — it began with introversion.
“Since I was always an introverted kid, I didn’t have friends to shoot with. Instead, I ‘exploited’ the only model who was always available — my younger sister, who was even more introverted than me.”
Together, the two sisters created little dream worlds, borrowing their dad’s clothes and inventing settings with whatever was at hand. One day, through a mutual connection, they found themselves styling shoots in a boutique hotel — complete with Rick Owens pieces they couldn’t have named at the time. The images weren’t about fashion or ambition. They were about curiosity, honesty, and the quiet joy of creating something just for them.
“Looking back, I now see how cool and honest the process was, but at the time, I was simply following my gut. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.”
Photography as Movement: Awkwardness, Emotion, and Honest Weirdness
Movement pulses through Kate’s visual language. Not just literal movement — though she’s long been inspired by choreography — but emotional motion. Her favorite kinds of performances are strange, clumsy, full of feeling.
“Whatever inspires me to move has to be weird — then I really like it.”
This appreciation for offbeat energy translates into her photography: staged yet unguarded, poised yet deeply personal. She cites dance videos and DIY performance clips as early inspirations, and she continues to explore her own form of visual choreography through shoots that combine sensuality, softness, and spontaneity.
The Shoot That Changed Everything
When asked about a recent shoot that shifted her, Kate returns again to her sister — this time years later, in Berlin. What was supposed to be a simple lighting test turned into a quiet breakthrough.
“There was something more real there than on other shootings I did with some kind of a strategic plan recently.”
That session unlocked something: a realization that the pressures of survival — integrating into a new city, finding stable housing, trying to turn art into income — had dulled the instinctive joy she once felt while creating. And yet, the simplicity of that moment returned her to it.
“This shooting was so light-hearted and fun and it gave me a comfortable feeling of ‘fuck it, fuck that stable income.’”
“I want to return to the roots of where it all started for me — within.”
Self-Portrait as Statement: The Power of “Just for Me”
Out of her recent work, one image stands apart — a self-portrait she shot while promoting her Polas project. Meant to be practical, it became personal.
“That experience meant much more than just taking a photo. And in the end, it’s the only image in the series that truly reflects what I want Polas to become: a collection of simple portraits of vivid/weird/individual characters.”
Here again, the power of doing something for no audience — no expectations — created the truest reflection of her current vision. Kate’s artistic self-trust is still building, but it’s this vulnerability and reflection that give her work its emotional clarity.
How Kate Wants You to Feel
She’s not chasing aesthetics or applause. What Kate really wants, she says, is for her images to offer others what her muses offer her: permission.
“If someone can look at what I did and think, ‘Wow, that’s so good and it makes me feel excited about becoming myself,’ that would honestly be the best feeling ever.”
The Road Ahead: Trusting the Process, Not the Plan
Kate doesn’t make five-year plans. Instead, she’s learning to trust what feels right — to return to a space where curiosity leads, not expectation.
“I cannot focus on the future in a healthy way. It led me away from listening to myself and enjoying the process.”
That said, there are sparks: the desire to make short-format film work, to dance more, to create projects that blur boundaries between visual art, story, and performance. But she’s waiting for the message — not forcing it.
The Dream: Finding Her People
Asked about dream projects or brands, Kate keeps it grounded and poetic:
“I dream of finding like-minded artists — collaborators and friends who will inspire and be inspired by me... I also want to be in a place where I can say no to money when something doesn’t feel right — and still live comfortably.”
It’s the kind of dream many creatives share. But Kate brings to it a rare combination of self-awareness and softness — a balance of fierce vision and tender rebellion.
“No to triteness and conventionality.”
In Berlin, in the wild in-between, Kate Lutaya is building a body of work rooted in emotion, movement, and sincerity. It’s photography that feels lived in. It’s a vision you don’t just see — you feel it, too. Check out Kate Lutaya's work, and hire her as a photographer here.
