Ellie Diez-Massaro

Ellie Diez-Massaro’s hand painted photographs create a mixture of reality and fantasy. The uninhabited landscapes are evocative, slightly surreal and sometimes other worldly. Her images reflect her own unique vision and convey a sense of solitude and tranquility. Hand painting photographs is an old process dating back to the 19th century. Massaro’s technique takes this tradition to a whole new level. Through the use of infrared film and the application of color found more in the imagination than in real life, she transforms an ordinary landscape into a magical dreamscape. The black and white photographs are hand printed in a traditional wet darkroom then processed and toned to archival standards. They are then painstakingly hand painted by applying transparent oils directly on the print. The oils are thinned down and layered to achieve vibrant, luminous colors. The final result is a unique blend of photography and painting. Each image is photographed, printed and hand painted by the artist. Massaro works primarily with infrared film and a Pentax 6 x 7 camera. There is no digital manipulation involved in any aspect of the process.