Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli

I’m a documentary photographer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My work centers on people, place, and cultural traditions across the American Southwest, with an emphasis on community, history, and everyday life.

I’m drawn to long-form visual storytelling and to the kind of photographs that are built through time, trust, and attention. Much of my work is rooted in New Mexico, where I continue to photograph the region’s beauty, complexity, and character through the lives of the people who shape it.

Though travel has taken me elsewhere, New Mexico is the place I feel most connected to and where I make my most meaningful work. My book, Seventh and Central: Lowriders (University of New Mexico Press, 2026), continues that commitment through a community-centered documentation of Albuquerque’s lowrider culture, shaped by family, friendship, craftsmanship, and pride.