

from meth addict to internationally recognized photographer 32 years sober with catherine just
Catherine Just started using drugs and alcohol when she was 13. By 18 she was addicted to crystal meth. Then one day, in the throes of addiction, she heard a voice. It said, “There’s more to this life than what you’re living.” Something in Catherine woke up and she got sober. She "checked herself into art school" where she immersed herself in discovery through photography.
Today Catherine, 32 years sober, uses photography to help others return to their essence. Using a 4x5 large format film camera, Catherine captures, in a single image, “the breath, heartbeat, dreams, wishes, and desires” of her subject. Her photography has been published on the cover of National Geographic Magazine, inside O Magazine, Photo District News Magazine and shown in galleries in the US and France.
In this conversation some of things we talk about:
- being addicted to meth at 16 and getting sober at 18
- the power of photography to capture everything: the seen and unseen, the known and unknown
- how art helped her settle into herself and find her way into the world
- diving into the unknown as a business strategy and
- how to use future writing as a tool to create the life you desire
May it inspire you to make your thing and change your world.