Elizabeth Opalenik is photographic artist who believes that all good photographs are self portraits that lie somewhere between imagination and dreams.  From her earliest days doing advertising and editorial assignments, Elizabeth has been hired for the sense of poetic grace and movement she brings to her images.  Today her voice is primarily as a fine art photographer and sought after educator for the sense of wonder and possibility she creates in her students.

Elizabeth privately conducts photography workshops internationally and in partnership with the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, the Maine Media Workshops, the British Guild of Portrait Photographers, National Geographic Expeditions, The Rencontres d’Arles,  and others.  With coaching through the F. Holland Day Center for Creativity and Healing, Elizabeth used photography to facilitate the healing process for women with cancer by finding their inner beauty and strength. For the past 20 years she has returned to Provence and Tuscany conducting workshops on the figure, travel and alternative processes.

Elizabeth’s heart is in her Oakland California darkroom working with Mordançage images and hand painting, but she bridges technology, mixing digital and traditional when appropriate to utilize all the creative possibilities. She uses images as stepping stones that trace where the mind has been, believing they reflect the unique vision that each of us carries through life.

Portfolios and interviews of her work have been featured in such magazines as Zoom, Camera Arts, Black and White Magazine, Silvershotz, Photo District News, Collectors Photography and Progresso Fotografico among others.  Commercial clients include Life Magazine, Gossard Lingerie, Coty Perfume,  Michael Good Design, Sea Air Holidays and ongoing campaigns for The Ladies Professional Golf Association and Nancy Lopez Golf.

Elizabeth’s work is exhibited, collected and published internationally.  She is represented by, Verve Fine Arts in Santa Fe, Gallery 291 in San Francisco,  David Weinberg Gallery, DeForest online and Corbis Stock Agency

For interviews on Elizabeth see CameraArts 1999, CameraArts 2006, Silvershotz 2006, B&W Magazine, and B&W Magazine.

Elizabeth recently published her first monograph "Poetic Grace: Elizabeth Opalenik Photographs 1979-2007".   www.poeticgrace.com

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