Karna Kurata is a photographer, cinematographer, and video producer based in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Her work focuses on exploring themes around the impacts of capitalism on tradition, culture, the environment and social justice. She worked on a long-term project documenting the nomadic lifestyle and aspects of the post Soviet transition in Mongolia. 

Her photography work has been exhibited at the World Affairs Council, 111 Minna Gallery, Exposure Gallery, Rayko Photo Center and City Hall in San Francisco and the Asian Resource Gallery and Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, CA. She has received recognition for her images and photo stories from the International Photo Awards, Julia Dean New Documentarian Award, Women In Photojournalism, and San Francisco Bay Area Press Photographers Association.

She was a cinematographer on the documentary film Before the Moon Falls (2025) which had its World Premiere at the Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand and US Premiere at the Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF). The film illuminates the complexities of inconsistently treated mental illness and the devastating toll it can exact on individuals, families and entire communities. She also provided additional cinematography on the film The Defender (2017) which investigates the racial injustice in the justice system through the eyes of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, which premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

She has experience working with a diverse client base to craft imagery for corporate, editorial, non-profit organizations and private commissions with a style rooted in documentary photography.  She has worked across the U.S. and internationally.

To see some of her video work, visit www.renkonstudios.com

Phone:  415.987.1478

Email:  kkurata[at]yahoo.com

Instagram:  @karnakurata