Domingo is a 24/7 ambassador of the arts as a creative consultant who also spent years working in photography, journalism, and publishing. Kali’s artful eye has also been channeled in the editorial world, and is currently working with Fireclay Tile, SF's own First Rite & various modeling projects.
Together they are— simply put— harmony actualized.
What would you say keeps your home base in the Bay Area?
Domingo: Basically, it’s the place I’ve always called home. It’s one of those cities where you could travel anywhere and come back to San Francisco and find that classic nostalgia. Being born and raised San Franciscan, it’s a great and beautiful place to call home.
Kali: I visited when I was a teenager and I just fell in love with it. I decided after school that I’d move to San Francisco. I still find it so enchanting; I get frustrated with it, but you’re never far from City Lights, a river, the ocean, or a good hike. It’s hard to imagine leaving.
How did you two meet?
Domingo: The first time we met was through work— we worked at a magazine calledPlanet, and I tried my hardest not to be romantically involved with this woman.
Kali: Because I was the intern!
Domingo:It was maybe four months?
Kali:Three months.
Domingo: Okay three months. I figured out how to leave the magazine and since I was free I said “Hey, we should hang out.” Or actually, it was a process of asking coworkers if she was interested at all.
What was your first collaboration you two worked on?
Kali: We started taking photos together pretty early on. When we first started dating, I had to adjust being in front of the camera a lot more, which I was not really comfortable with.
Domingo: When it comes to the stuff that we shot ourselves, they were just for our own purposes. It’s our way of chronicling our days, our adventures. it’s more of a natural collaboration— there’s an ongoing appreciation for each other’s visual perspective. I’m a photographer that shoots for himself a lot of times. And Kali— as much as she doesn't like to admit the fact that she’s become a photographer— is a point worth mentioning.
Kali, are you also shooting for yourself or do you meet with others to work freelance?
Kali: Most of what I’ve been doing is for myself. I see things all the time and I just feel compelled, I would say. I’m lucky to have great friends that have brought me on to model more than anything else.
Domingo, you’ve described your body of work as a combination of aesthetics, art and philosophy. Is there a school of thought or favorite philosopher that particularly inspires you?
Domingo:Great question. Voltaire for sure, but I always come back to Nietzsche and it’s for too many reasons than I can explain in one answer.
What about you, Kali? Is there someone who specifically inspires you?
Kali:If I really think about it, it would have to be Thich Nhat Hanh— staying positive is very important to me. Daily, I would say I am most inspired by color, this city has the most beautiful palette.
What would you say is the best part about being in a relationship with another creative?
Kali: I feel like being with Domingo has really heightened my own sense of creativity and I might not have felt to compelled to want to catalog life the way we have if I hadn't been with somebody who was doing that naturally. It’s a wonderful thing— when you have an idea— to have someone to help you execute it.
Domingo:Seeing that has been really special. We have a natural tendency to need to work with one another, and you just do it. A lot of it is off the cuff. It’s not an impulse but there’s an impulsive factor to what we do. Things happen and if you’re lucky enough to capture it, you do; and if you don’t you have the story to remember it.
