Irene Young

With 600 CD covers and thousands of promo photos to her credit, Irene Young is not your average photographer. She started her career in Manhattan's Folk City Village music scene during the late 70's and 80's, gaining her chops by photographing East Coast music notables like The Roches, Laura Nyro, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Judy Collins, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucy Kaplanski, Tom Paxton, John McCutcheon, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Anne Hills, Christine Lavin, and more. West Coast record companies started taking note, and eventually, she was lured to the beauty of the SF Bay Area where she became primary photographer for Olivia and Windham Hill. Other notables photographed by Young are Al Jarreau, Mary Black, Rosario Dawson, Sonia Braga, Jennifer Berezan, Susan Griffin, Judy Grahn, and countless others. Her photographs have appeared in numerous publications, including Oprah Magazine, Us Magazine, The New York Times, The SF Chronicle, The Washington Post, People Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The Utne Reader. 

As a result of her 2005 battle with breast cancer, she produced the Glass Half Full CD, a compilation benefiting Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, formerly called the Breast Cancer Fund. In 2015, Young produced a sold-out multi-artist benefit at The Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. After a 2nd diagnosis in 2017, she will reprise the concert May 27, 2018. She is the house photographer at The Freight & Salvage. 

Young has had four years of training at The Academy of Intuitive Arts. She says that her intuitive training has enabled her to be a better photographer and having photographed thousands of people has sharpened her intuition. She states, “The art of seeing does not start and stop with our eyes.”  

In 2013 she was invited to present a 200-digital image retrospective for Olivia marking their 40-year anniversary. The following year, her exhibit, FOR THE RECORD: Women Who Changed the World with Song, was exhibited at The Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA., and at the National Women’s Music Festival in 2015.   

As a video producer, her Youtube channel has garnered over 700,000 views. In 2017, she began mentoring multi-creative, Tina Silano. Young states, "I have been gifted with much experience, and over the coming years, I want to pass it on. Tina has the eye, the charm, the humor, and the emotional intelligence to carry on what I do and make it her own." As both web designer and photographer, Young offers consultations to budding creatives who wish to explore building an online portfolio.