shay munroe

Hi. I’m so happy you’re here.

I am a photographer, writer, and filmmaker with a background in photojournalism, performance, film, and theater. I specialize in portrait and documentary style photography while also stretching into fine art.

Two of my greatest joys in life are the way light bends through an environment shaping mood and story and the power of art to create an entire sensory filled world to slip into. I believe in capturing the beauty, truth, and strange and intriguing hilarity of humanity, telling visceral stories through my photographs. A mainly self taught artist, I began working in photography at an early age first in film then moving to digital.

I have spent nearly two decades behind the camera directing my subjects with clarity, playfulness, and warm presence to invite them to relax open and feel liberated through being seen in front of the lens. I believe in simplicity and extravagance all wrapped up together. Life is both, a beautiful paradox, so why not mirror that? Through my training in feminine embodiment, performing on stage and in film, and studies in writing and poetry I understand the vulnerability and degree of presence in what makes a powerful image, performance, or piece of writing and apply that to my photographs and films.

Currently based in Virginia.

exhibitions

2025 Featured Artist Mountain Run Jam — Sedalia, VA

2025 Teeny Tiny Trifecta Second Street Gallery — Charlottesville, VA

2023 Of Bodyscapes American Riviera Mag Studio — Santa Barbara, CA

2021 Untitled Honey Pot — Boulder, CO

features

2024 — Canon Rebel Magazine — LA

2023 — XIX Magazine — Miami, FL

2023 — Voyage LA Magazine — LA

2023 — The Montecito Journal — Montecito, CA

2022 — Neo Form — LA

2022 — Life Is Street International Magazine — France

2022 — Fc’Diary International Magazine — France

2022 — Le Nude Magazine — France

2022 — CSA Awards Evening — LA

2015 — Cover, Blue Ridge Life Magazine — Charlottesville, VA

2016 — Princeton Alumni Weekly — NJ

2014 — Cover, The Hook Magazine — Charlottesville, VA