About

Céline Haeberly (Swiss-Italian American) is an independent photographer based in Orange County, California. Born in China, she arrived in the United States as an infant and was raised on the East Coast by Italian American and Swiss professors.  

Movement is her earliest memory, and it runs through her upbringing: a childhood spent in rural Connecticut and the shores of Lake Léman in the French-Swiss Alps, universities in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Paris, and a year living in Thailand before relocating to the West Coast. Moving between these many cultures, languages, and landscapes has shaped her way of seeing. These threshold movements, and the feeling of always being in between, inform a conceptual, research-based practice attuned to contemporary cultural and environmental conditions. Her recent work explores life at the fringes of conservation during a time of rapid social, technological, and environmental change.  

Her art-focused conservation work grew out of long-term collaborations with scientists researching an endangered migratory seabird in the United States and Mexico. After the pandemic, she co-founded Collective 22, an international group of women photographers creating transnational, conservation-driven exhibitions. In 2025, Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier selected her for the FOMARES League of Conservation Photographers. 

Solo and group exhibitions include Caracol Museo de Ciencias in Mexico; Weißekreuzplatz in Hannover, Germany; INSIGHT Foto Festival in Varese, Italy; and the Photo Square at Milan Malpensa International Airport. Her image White Pelicans in Guerrero Negro won a SeaLegacy and FOMARES competition and sold at a live auction at the Dos Mares Gala and Ocean Symphony in Mexico City. 

Previously the founding in-house photographer for ASICS Digital & Global Marketing’s Content Department, she continues to work in studio and on location with global brands in Orange County and Los Angeles. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and French from Barnard College of Columbia University, where she graduated with honors.