Loren Cameron
(1959 - living) U.S.A.
Photographer and writer
 Loren Cameron was born in 1959 in Pasadena, California and spent his early teens in rural Arkansas. He moved to San Francisco in 1979 and has been a Bay Area resident ever since. From the age of 16, Cameron was sexually and socially identifying as a lesbian. It was in 1987 that Cameron began his transition from female to male. He began his photography career in 1993 as he documented his process of becoming a man. As Cameron began to take pictures of his own transformation, he began to photograph other transsexuals.
"What was initially a crude documentation of my own personal journey quickly evolved into an impassioned mission. Impulsively, I began to photograph other transsexuals that I knew, feeling compelled to make images of their emotional and physical triumphs. I was fueled by my need to be validated and wanted, in turn, to validate them. I wanted the world to see us, I mean, really see us."
 Cameron's photographs and self-portraits have become beautiful icons of a burgeoning transgender movement. Heralded as groundbreaking and stunning, his book Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits (Cleis Press 1996) has been regarded as a seminal contribution. It has been critically acclaimed worldwide and in 1996 received numerous certificates of recognition, including two Lambda Literary awards. Cameron's intimate self-portraiture and the compassionate portrayal of his subjects reflect an insider's viewpoint that is proud, informative and dynamic.
Currently, new works are in progress: self-portrait nude studies, transgenders and partners nudes and portraits and nudes of transsexual women and men. His documentation of surgical options for transmen (female-to-male) is ongoing and he continues to provide these and select other images as a community resource and in an educational slide format. Cameron is now photographing in both color (chrome) and black and white.
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