Shana Press is a photographer and storyteller based out of Northern California, who takes an elevated approach to the documentary. Her work is most concerned with the conservation of wildlife and natural ecosystems, particularly in the scope of climate change and natural disaster. Altered landscapes, manmade water infrastructure, meteorology, and light pollution are some of her many interests. Her highest objective with her work is to help connect people back to the land they inhabit so they can advocate for animals, plants, and more sustainable human practices by any means and capacity available to them.
While Shana was born and raised in Southern California, her time in the Air Force landed her up north where she operated as a satellite, wideband, and telemetry systems technician. After two years, Shana opted to complete her time in service to care for her first (and only) child, her daughter Chloe. During that time, she earned double certifications in Nutrition and Fitness and became an ACE certified personal trainer. She later spent six years working for Dell EMC as a field engineer in the enterprise storage sector. Here she would earn certifications in network infrastructure and flash storage.
During her time in Sacramento, she earned Associates degrees in both Sociology and Photography from Sierra College. She will be graduating this May from CSU Sacramento with a Bachelors in Photography and a minor in Journalism. Before settling on Photography, she also completed half the coursework for the Video Production degree.
Shana’s photography work has now been featured in multiple local exhibitions and she is excited to be publishing both her first and second books this year. Her dream since childhood has been to write and make documentary work for National Geographic – and she is well on her way! Follow her journey on Instagram at Shot by Shana