Keoki Flagg Biography

Keoki Flagg is a world-renowned fine art and extreme sports photographer. His unique limited edition photographs cover a wide range of subjects and span all 7 continents, including Antarctica, and are admired by fine art collectors and connoisseurs internationally. His earliest works appeared in the 1990s. Flagg is the recipient of numerous awards including winner of the 2001 Banff International Photo Contest, the KT Award and the Captain John Noel award. He is a member of the Explorer’s Club, an international exploration society based in New York City.

Born in Hawai’i in 1965, Flagg spent part of his childhood living in Europe, traveling with his family of six in a camper. This has left him with a multi-cultural orientation and a lust for travel. Flagg speaks #uent French and a spattering of other languages. Flagg has produced commercial work for a vast international clientele including VISA, General Electric, DuPont, California Tourist Board, New Zealand Tourist Board, National Geographic Television, Discovery Channel, Maui Jim, Völkl, Rossignol, and Squaw Valley Resort. His images have been published in, and graced the covers of National Geographic Adventure, Men’s Journal, Vogue, Men’s Fitness, Audubon, Archeology, Outside, Geo, Sunset, Backpacker, Sports Illustrated for Women, Powder, Ski & Skiing Magazine, The Mountain Zone and Warren Miller Entertainment. He sees his occupation as his best excuse to get out there. “Traveling has always been a major force in my life. For me it has always been about the path. A passion for the unknown will always feed my curiosity.” Flagg moved to Squaw Valley in 1992. “Squaw Valley is my base camp. Tahoe is the ultimate palette with its ever-changing characteristics, and with the presence of a community of freethinking, world-class athletes. It is an absolute rush to work with these individuals, who continue to achieve the impossible.” Flagg has worked with Jonny Moseley, Julia Mancuso, Daron Rahlves, JT Holmes, Shane McConkey, Kent Kreitler, Doug Stoup, Andrew McLean, Tamara McKinney, Ingrid Backstrom and many others.

Capturing the faces of other worlds through the eyes of his subjects has been a continued theme in Flagg’s personal work. After finishing his formal art education at Connecticut College, Flagg spent almost four years traveling the Southern Hemisphere, Asia and Africa. In search of a deeper understandings of the worlds he visits, Flagg often embraces a serendipitous path, allowing many of the details of where he goes and how he gets there to be defined once he is on the ground. His portraits are of people from diverse demographic backgrounds, yet there is an uncanny similarity in their message. “My goal is to gain insight into their world through the building blocks of their environment, capturing the simplicity of life through an innocent smile, the arrogant confidence of youth portrayed in a direct stare, or the wisdom of age as seen in the depth of an old man’s gaze.” He has worked with a variety of philanthropic organizations including the Jimmy Huega Foundation, Kiwanis, Girls and Boys Club, PLAN international, ADRA and the Maybach Foundation. organizations including ADRA and the Maybach Foundation.

For Flagg, documenting the experience is not enough. “As an artist, it is much more important to me to translate how something feels emotionally, rather than simply showing what it looks like.” In pursuit of his goal, he implements a number of original camera formats and techniques that defy traditional and standardized treatments of welldocumented subjects. In many situations, Flagg actually captures his images while setting himself in motion with his subjects. Mounting a camera on a pole with an ultra-wide angle lens, he interacts with his subjects unpredictably, catching a unique perspective as they move through their environment. This participatory record of the subject’s inner space presents a strong element of surprise and leaves the viewer with an unmistakable original, emotional connection.