Director/Photographer Zen Sekizawa Signs With WoodShop; Company Continues to Expand Diverse Directorial Roster

Director/Photographer Zen Sekizawa has signed with WoodShop, as the company continues to expand its diverse directorial roster this year. Founders Executive Producer Sam Swisher and ECD/Director Trevor Shepard welcomed Zen to the team, where she joins Creative Director/Directors Michelle Pak and Peter Cote. 

After freelancing with the WoodShop team continuously over the past 10 years, Zen decided to sign with the company in the New Year 2021. “Since the beginning of our work together, there has always been a natural and organic partnership,” explains Zen. “There aren’t many studios where you make great things at this high level and still be friends at the end of it. WoodShop is a special place where you make great things at a very high level and still be good friends at the end of it. I’m really grateful and excited to join the team, and looking forwarding to applying my expertise in photography and motion to every project.” 

“Zen has an incredibly unique perspective, which she brings to every collaboration,” notes WoodShop ECD/Director Trevor Shepard, who founded the company with his partner and friend, EP Sam Swisher, a decade ago. “Zen’s use of color, texture and composition, which she brings to motion is amazing. She is able to portray a product to align with how it makes you feel. Zen can do this visually.”

WoodShop EP Sam Swisher agrees, “Zen is a very successful photographer and wildly creative,” he notes. “When we decided to follow this strategy and build a roster of talented Creative Directors and Directors, we were just thrilled that Zen decided to join us on this adventure.”


Zen Sekizawa has been working as a Photographer, Director and Artist for over two decades in her hometown of Los Angeles, CA. She is second-generation Angeleno and fourth- generation, Japanese-American.

Since earning her BFA in Photography from Art Center College of Design, she had built an extensive roster of commercial clients including Jaguar, KFC, Nike, Apple, IBM, Sonic, Reynolds Wrap, Lexus, Modelo, Vogue, Vans, SONOS and The New Yorker.

Recent projects for Zen include a launch for Miss Grass, and an Instagram-inspired social media campaign for Sonos, exploring how artists are living, working, and listening at home through a series called “Still Lives.” #StillLives. Zen collaborated in the fall with Playboy on a Holiday Gift Guide. Currently she is working on projects for Vans, The New Yorker and Modelo. Zen is continuously shooting for dual Michelin-starred restaurant n/naka and also creates custom objects and furniture pieces in her arts based collaboration project MANO YA.