Ellen Feldman Photography: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

Paris Street Stories

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 01:52:58 GMT

]]>As a longtime street photographer, I am drawn to capturing people in their daily life, 'en plein air,' surrounded by a vibrant cityscape. Strongly influenced by my background in film studies, I explore the primacy of physical gesture, contrasts of scale or direction within the frame, and strong color—always thinking about the potential for narrative.

For this ongoing series, “Paris Street Stories,” begun in 2010, I walk around all sections of Paris—including ethnically diverse ones—seeking out life "on the run." Since 2015, I have rented an apartment and spend three months a year in Paris, wandering neighborhoods with my camera, developing friendships, frequenting French conversation groups and a photography group, and closing each day of photographing with a glass of wine at a nearby “terrasse.” In that way, Paris Street Stories has become one of my essential projects.

Any number of aspects of people and their surroundings might catch my eye: a fleeting emotion, a striking juxtaposition of a figure with a piece of urban art, a compositional configuration such as a “found triptych.” The possibilities are endless. I seize the opportunity, framing my subjects quickly and spontaneously—often without their awareness.

Exhibition prints (14x20") are available for purchase (editions of 7); contact Ellen. Other sizes available on request.

In addition to this series of photographs, Les Mystères de Paris / Paris Mysteries is a self-published photography book.
To preview or purchase a copy of the book, go to Les Mystères de Paris / Paris Mysteries, Second Edition.

Urban Zips and Collages

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:35:10 GMT

]]>Exhibition prints are available for purchase (see below).

Urban Zips combines my longstanding work in street photography with my love of abstract expressionist painting. It is the work of Barnett Newman (1905-1970) that inspired this project. He created what he called “zips”: large “color field” paintings in which the entire canvas is covered with a single color, and is then bisected by one or more thin bands—or zips—of another color.

My own “zips” are single-frame, composite images where a close-up shot of an urban surface is sliced by one or more bands of my classic street photography.

Within the frame, I build formal correspondences, conflicts, and narrative layers. The result veers toward abstraction, but the reality-based source is always present. While Urban Zips hint at elements of character and narrative, they complicate principles of physical reality: scale, perspective, the relation of figure to ground, and in some cases, time.

Since creating Urban Zips, I've also been branching out to collage.

Exhibition prints (20x30") are available for purchase (editions of 7); contact Ellen. (Other sizes available upon request.)

Toy Family

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 01:33:52 GMT

]]>Although never one to play with dolls, I bought six small figures (the original “toy family”) on a whim, and started taking them into city streets for photo sessions, and created my own film stills. Thus began a project that has continued for twenty years.

While my figures work, I play. I find sets on everything from street curbs to construction vehicles. The family grew into a community that I direct, imagining what they want and how they feel. As in any communication, their relationships are complex and open to interpretation.

This project represents another facet of my street photography. Both involve an ever-changing cityscape, populated by real people going about their daily rounds or by small plastic figures arranged by me to create a simulated “real” moment.

Time Recovered

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:26:14 GMT

]]>Time Recovered is about identifying with and separating from our parents and our earlier selves. I began this project at an age when I was looking back as much as looking forward. I had always chronicled my family (and myself) at their most quotidian. In the early 2000s, I was ready to make works juxtaposing the old photos with ones where I take on the earlier poses, beginning with Me in the Middle, for which I returned to my childhood home in Elkins Park, PA.

“Oh no, I’m turning into my mother (my father)!” This sensation, so common in people of a certain age, has for me often been about gesture. I channel, for example, the way my mother sipped a cup of coffee or applied lipstick, and the way both my parents smoked (how I longed to be a smoker! how I love to photograph people smoking!). When I was younger, I wanted to free myself from these “invasive” behaviors, but as time—and my parents—have passed, I now embrace them. I’ll even fling my arms high above my head in abandon, just as my mother did, to keep alive one gesture I loved so much.

These (mostly) word and image compositions depict conversations across time and space that I’m having with my parents and with my younger self. Some photographs come from my family archive; others I create to set up our interaction. I selected texts from a range of literary sources that obliquely refer to the emotional or political context, or our mortality.

Prague: Street People / Wall People

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:33:59 GMT

]]>I went to Prague for a week in September/October, 2011, to explore the city and take street photos.

I always go shooting on my own, unencumbered by the need to consider anyone else’s pace or interests. And it makes it much easier to see your surroundings. In Prague, I was especially drawn to the wall stencils. This portfolio encompasses two subjects: people I come across in the street and wall artwork, often of people.

I knew none of the subjects in the street photos, and often managed to capture images without the subject’s awareness. While I like to remain invisible, I rarely hide my camera or “shoot from the hip.” The fact that people so rarely notice my presence—even when only a few feet away—is a welcome reminder of how fully we’re committed to our own “realities.”

Exhibition prints (14x20") are available for purchase (editions of 7); contact Ellen.

These photographs are included in A Week in Prague: Wall People / Street People, a self-published photography book. To preview or purchase a copy of the book, go to A Week in Prague: Wall People / Street People.

Dancer in her Studio

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:33:35 GMT

]]>Nicole Pierce, an extraordinary modern dancer, choreographer, dance instructor, and founder of EgoArt, Inc., has been a favorite subject of mine for many years. I photographed her on Sunday mornings every few months – sometimes more frequently.

I was free to shoot Nicole while she put together her weekly dance class at Green Street Studios (RIP) in Cambridge, MA. She didn’t stop to pose for me, so in a sense my process was the same as when I photographed in city streets. I like the spontaneity of the ever-changing present, never quite sure what the next instant will bring.

She was the star of my comic book, "The Dancer as the Invisible Girl."

We Who March: Photographs and Reflections on the Women’s March, January 21, 2017

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Sat, 02 Dec 2017 20:17:48 GMT

]]>These are photos from the photo book, We Who March, by Ellen Feldman. The book includes contributions by thirty accomplished photographers—all committed activists, and comments by twenty marchers.

Introduction by Susan M. Reverby, Emerita Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Wellesley College. Cover design by Angela Nannini, http://nanninidesign.com

VISIT BOOK'S DEDICATED WEBSITE

“I join the patients and staff of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts to thank Ellen for standing with Planned Parenthood and contributing profits of her powerful book to make sure every one of our patients can access the care they need.”
--Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts

We Who March is a book of fine art photography in which equal attention is paid to political message and artistic expression.

We Who March photographs bear witness to the diversity of the marchers—people of all ages, genders, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religions.

The book is 8 x 10-inch, soft cover, 164 pages, and full color, with 123 photographs and 20 marcher commentaries. It is self-published, with profits being donated to Planned Parenthood.

To order a book, please contact Ellen. Please visit www.WeWhoMarch.org for other information.

Gallery exhibits of photographs from the book are welcome. Please contact Ellen.

The Dancer as the Invisible Girl

(Ellen Feldman Photography) — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 18:35:51 GMT

]]>The Dancer as the
Invisible Girl
1 Dancer + 1 Comic Book +
1 Photographer

Exhibition prints and photo/comic book available for purchase (see below).

The Dancer as the Invisible Girl is a photo/comic book and a series of 20x30-inch prints; some are shown here.

In this comic, I placed images of a dancer into a Marvel Fantastic Four comic book, highlighting the way both comics and photography can freeze gesture and motion, cram things into a frame, cut the body off mid-limb, and explore odd perspective.

I retain the very simple narrative, but the two incarnations of the central character (Susan Richards and superhero Invisible Girl) gain a third identity: the Dancer (played by dancer and choreographer Nicole Pierce). The comic’s Fan Page explores more fully the relationship between photography, comics, and dance.

This photo/comic book is in the Museum of Modern Art Library.

Exhibition prints (20x30") are available for purchase (editions of 7); contact Ellen.

To see all pages of the photo/comic book, or to purchase a copy, go to MagCloud.