Hi, I’m Koa !

I use analog and digital techniques to investigate the continuum between people and the rest of nature including photographic evolution.
cameras, cats & bikes sums it up nicely.



short story long ….
As a fifth generation Benton County resident living within Champinefu, the traditional homeland of the Ampinefu Band of Kalapuya, I am deeply connected to & shaped by this environment. My work, thus, is influenced & contains aspects of this place – evergrowing thing that it is.





After a year living & working in Kenya I earned a BS degree in Entomology. Always a curious KAT, I moved to San Diego to manage a collection of spine-less organisms &, ultimately, burnt out of a career in Forensics. I continue to fight sexual violence through my art & supporting that of others’ at Light Rider Studios.


Photography perfectly balances my art & science minds; with it I can create works about human relationships – with self, each other & place.
I garnered a BFA in Photography & spent time in Seattle honing my skills at Moonphoto, managing The Photocloset & cycling the city’s hilly streets.



I continue to collect imagery primarily by bike &, by utilizing methodology in content, emulate the stacked stories I imagine whilst riding …



Email // koa a tom @ gmail . com
Instagram // @ koa.tom & @ light.rider.studios









