Kutay Alkin is a Turkish/Canadian contemporary photographer and painter. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. 

 He discovered photography during his college years while majoring in metallurgical engineering in Istanbul Technical University. His mathematical abilities and the post high school examination system in Turkey determined his major in engineering; it was not a personal or informed choice. Although he never worked as an engineer, he appreciated his education for the alternative perspective it provided.  Kutay first discovered photography when he took a mandatory non technical class in his undergraduate studies while receiving his Bachelors in Science in metallurgical engineering.

His extensive travels and interest in languages led him to work as a translator and guide, first with Europeans, speaking in French due to his knowledge of French language and culture after having received his middle/high school education in a French school. Kutay later continued this work in Japanese after learning Japanese language and culture after taking Japanese language classes during his undergraduate years. For a decade Kutay worked with people traveling to Turkey from Japan. Later in his career, he worked with Western businesses as a linguistic and cultural broker in their work with Japanese businesses.

In the meantime, he continued to pursue his passion in photography through his ongoing work and several courses he took. Kutay lived in Canada between 2008-2013.  During this period, photography became his primary focus. He discovered freedom in low fidelity photography. Using his engineering education, he focused on technical aspect of the media and he started modifying cameras to better serve his artistic vision.

In 2015 his received his MFA degree at Claremont Graduate School in California. At this widely known as an abstract painting school, he experimented with using other medias and had the opportunity to meet other artists and professors to discuss a variety of artistic visions. During his graduate school, Kutay stared investigating the invisible line in between photography and painting. His having worked with low -fi photography led him a step closer to painting. After  years of photographic investigation, through a long and unpredictable path, painting enriched his artistic vision allowing him a path of integration his inner world/subjective with that of the external/objective.