AUSTIN DROGUETT BIO
Early in his career, Austin Droguett moved to Los Angeles, where he established himself in the entertainment industry as a camera operator and cinematographer. His credits span major productions, including Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans (2013), and the FX comedy Married (2014). His technical expertise in capturing dynamic, emotionally charged visuals laid the groundwork for his later explorations in independent filmmaking, photography, and fine art.
After relocating to the Seattle–Poulsbo area, Droguett expanded his creative practice into full-spectrum infrared photography and abstract painting. His photographic work blends technology with intuition, transforming familiar spaces into otherworldly landscapes. As a painter, he creates bold, mirrored, Rorschach-inspired works that explore chaos, symmetry, nature, and emotion. Because each piece invites its own interpretation, Droguett believes that only the viewer can truly name the work—especially his large-scale multivectored press pieces, which reveal shifting faces, forms, and scenes depending on one’s perspective.
Droguett’s artistic identity is deeply rooted in his family’s lineage. His paternal grandfather, Rudy Droguett, was a pioneering scratchboard etcher who discovered the medium at the Pratt Institute and went on to produce iconic wildlife and portrait works throughout the 1970s and beyond. His maternal grandfather, Nolan Patterson (1922–1982), was a WWII combat photographer and Art Center College of Design graduate whose impressionistic, thickly textured paintings and watercolors evoke both the vastness of rural Kansas and a dreamlike poetic vision of light and form.
In recent years, Austin has expanded into driftwood sculpture, sourcing naturally weathered wood from local beaches. Each piece is shaped by the forces of tide, saltwater, and time. By sanding and polishing the wood to reveal grain, rings, and natural contours, he highlights what he describes as “beauty after death”—the quiet story of nature preserved in form.
Droguett’s work also extends into the broader creative community, including collaborations within the Seattle horror filmmaking scene and the design of visuals, clothing art, and logos for local businesses. His curiosity drives him to explore the edges of art and technology—magnetic electrical theory, sound and voice synthesis, and the science of consciousness—all in service of expanding creative expression.
Now the inheritor of both grandfathers’ artistic estates, Austin continues to produce and sell his own original paintings, sculptures, and photographic works. Guided by principles of energy, frequency, and vibration, his multidisciplinary portfolio reflects a lifelong dedication to visual exploration, innovation, and legacy-building.