Elena Ray

I’ve been happily spending much time of late online with the vast portfolio of Abigaill Berenika over at AltPhotos.com. She has infused my love of photography with a new excitement. Her work seems quite personal, as she shoots the same model over and over-perhaps self portraits. I don’t know, she doesn’t write much about her process and I’m enjoying getting everything I need from just looking at the images. Her work reminds me a lot of of Robert Parkeharrison’s older portfolio, but with a much less dismal theme. Her tone does have a melancholic ring to it, but it’s more dreamy in a good weird way. Her use of Photoshop is thrilling. She manages to keep her images looking as if they were done with alternative processes-and maybe they are, but I doubt she actually shot a real building floating in a stormy sea…She’s a genius, a mysterious brilliant!

The altphotos.com site is compelling. There are quite a few Polish photographers (Berenika is Polish) posting there and their work as a group is generally above and beyond. I wonder what’s going on in Poland that makes it possible for so many to be so poetically inclined and capable?

http://www.altphotos.com/Gallery.aspx?&a=MemberGallery&memberid=2241