kate schermerhorn, director/producer/camera/still photographer
Kate Schermerhorn's first film, Seeking 1906, premiered on KQED in April 2006 and was broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. The film is a journey with best selling author Simon Winchester, into the story of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.In May 2007, Kate won a Northern California Emmy for Outstanding Achievement as Director of Seeking 1906, as well as receiving a nomination in the Historical/Cultural category. Kate directed, produced and was primary photographer on Seeking 1906.
Kate is currently in production on a one hour documentary about marriage (working title: To Have and To Hold) and in development on several other projects. She was recently awarded the maximum possible grant from Pacific Pioneer Fund for work on the To Have and To Hold.
Until the huge success of Seeking 1906, Kate was best known as a still photographer and in particular, for her photography book, America's Idea of a Good Time (Dewi Lewis Publishing 2001). The New Yorker said of the work, "Kate Schermerhorn brings genuine life to the show. In her small black-and-white prints nothing seems wasted, and nothing's excessive"
Kate's photographs have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Independent, The Saturday Independent Magazine, The British Journal of Photography, San Francisco Chronicle, El Mundo and Granta. Her work has been exhibited at The Victoria and Albert Museum's Canon Photography Gallery, Ariel Meyerowitz Gallery, Yossi Milo Gallery, Fifty One Fine Art, Antwerp, Galerie Bodo Neimann, Berlin, The Royal Photographic Society, Bath and The Houston Center for Photography. She has recently completed a second book, which looks at life in Los Angeles.
Kate started working in television production at a young age for her father, executive producer with Neil Tardio Productions until his retirement in 1996. Kate went on to work in all aspects of commercial and music video production and has worked with Michael Moore, Tamra Davis and Matthew Rolston. Kate's brother is a producer/director/writer and his hit show Driving Force is in its second season on A&E.
Kate was born in New York in 1966 and raised in Malibu, California. She studied photography with Joel Sternfeld at Sarah Lawrence College. Kate has lived in Hong Kong, Italy, rural Scotland and from 1995-2002 in London. She moved to San Francisco in 2002. Kate has two young children.
Contact Kate at : kate@lunaparkproductions.org