Volusia County Courthouse - Ken Laffal

Coquina Coast, 2004
Photograph

Ken Laffal
St. Augustine, Fla.
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Ken Laffal is an internationally recognized photographer and travel author whose work has been published in magazines and newspapers including Newsweek and the New York Times over his 40-year career. 

A resident of St. Augustine for the past 20 years, Laffal's life has been steeped in the art of picture-taking. He gained a vast amount of technical knowledge while studying photography in the Netherlands in the early 1970s. Completing his studies in 1972, Laffal returned to the states. His first picture was featured in a daily newspaper in Connecticut, and since then his life has been photography.

''From the mid-to-late '70s I was freelancing,'' he said. ''I taught photo at an art school in Connecticut; I've done a wide range of stuff, but I started out with purely journalistic stuff.'' 

About 21 years ago, he made his first trek to St. Augustine. ''I came down, and it was around 75 degrees,'' he said. ''The light was filtering through the Spanish moss and I thought, 'this is it' -- it was just gorgeous.'' He’s been here ever since.

“Simplicity of design and composition has always appealed to me. So too has the notion of being a universal native, someone who lingers long enough to get to know a place and feel at home wherever he happens to be in the world.” – Ken Laffal

Gator in Green, 2004