Catherine Just Loves Max

Second Chances

Catherine Just is an award-winning photographer, artist, and mentor living in Los Angeles, California. She travels the globe capturing the Breath, Heartbeat, and Pulse of the planet with her 4x5 camera, Polaroid, Pinhole and other alternative film cameras. Her most prized creation is her son Max Harrison who happens to have Down syndrome and teaches her the most valuable tool for creativity is love.

After getting sober from a crystal meth addiction at the age of 18, Catherine has been using photography as a tool for transformation. She feels that the truth lives in-between the words as underneath the surface of our everyday lives. Photography has been a way to investigate these spaces and places that aren’t seen but are deeply felt.

She’s been sober for 30 years and sees photography and the creative process as medicine. She travels internationally with her vintage 4x5 camera, Polaroid and Pinhole cameras capturing the breath, heartbeat, and pulse of the planet. Catherine leads immersive photography retreats in Paris, Barcelona, and Oaxaca and teaches 3 online courses: Self Portraiture as Medicine, Begin Deepening and Into the Deep.

Catherine is the Founder of the Max Harrison Foundation, dedicated to her son. The foundation offers a program that teaches children with Down syndrome around the globe how to use cameras for self-expression.