Lisa Elmaleh (born 1984) is an American photographer from South Florida.[1]
Lisa Elmaleh was born in Miami, Florida in 1984.[2][3] She grew up in a small apartment with her mother on a limited income. Her father was a photographer who worked with landscapes; Elmaleh recalls watching him develop photographs in a darkroom, saying "the magic of the images...stuck with me".[4] She attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2007.[5]
Elmaleh creates tintype photographs, learning the collodion process in 2007. Her preferred camera is the Century Universal; she uses a Schneider Kreuznach 300mm lens.[6] The wet collodion process means that images must be shot and developed while the chemicals are still wet on the plate.[3] Many of her photographs focus on Appalachian folk musicians. She converted a Toyota Tacoma truck into a mobile darkroom—driving to meet her subjects.[2] Because of the time constraints of the collodion process, Elmaleh develops the photographs within thirty minutes of taking them. Images are taken and developed one at a time.[3]
Some of Elmaleh's works include:[3]
She moved to Paw Paw, West Virginia from Brooklyn in 2014.[2]