T-Shirt #006 by Shawn Mortensen

Shawn Mortensen was a photographer based in Los Angeles. Throughout his life, Shawn was often on the move, exploring places and meeting people that interested him. From shooting Dash Snow for a fashion campaign in LA to living with the Zapatista rebels in Mexico, from being invited to dinner with the Marleys in Jamaica to photographing backstage at fashion shows in London – Shawn's photography never failed to capture the true warmth, interest, and excitement he had for his subjects.

In selecting an image for this T-Shirt, Shawn was keen to avoid the obvious choices in his archive; he had endless T-Shirt-worthy shots of well-known celebrities from Tupac to Larry Flynt from Kate Moss to Nelson Mandela. However, he chose an image of a Zapatista Rebel holding his machine gun while giving a peace sign.

Shawn’s death in 2009, at the age of only 43, was a terrible and tragic loss to all those who knew him. We decided to go ahead with Shawn’s T-Shirt as he had designed it, but also added a photo of him on the back. The image of Shawn was taken by DoBeDo contributor Tyrone Lebon in London in 2006.

DoBeDo's 'Photographers T-Shirt Series' started in 2009 and has included over thirty photographers over the last fourteen years. T-Shirts are also available via our 'Photographers T-Shirt Series Subscription.'