Gallinas de Mesilla

Photograph

Lisa Wood
Photography

As a Mesilla Valley, New Mexico native, I always appreciated the beauty that surrounded me.   As the hues of the Organ Mountains changed and as the fields of cotton and chile came and went, I felt very much a part of this valley.  In this valley lie my ancestors, old family adobes sit, murals and artwork by family members viewed in public places.  Digging through old family photo boxes I also felt moved and connected to family and times before me.  At an early age I realized the importance of these photographs, these documents and what they meant to me.  And so, I began my journey in the realm of photography.  I began by taking photographs of family children and mountains and fields of the valley.  I was drawn to portraiture, still life, landscapes, animals and architecture.

Life's jouney took many paths yet photography remained a constant.  Today, I live and work in Santa Fe.  The Sangre de Cristos of Northern New Mexico are just as stunning as the Organ Mountains and the fields of Southern New Mexico.  By working for the Attorney General of New Mexico, I gained access and opportunities to photograph historical, official and political events as well as to opportunities to photograph weddings and life events for those who saw me photographing public events.  Northern New Mexicans are eager to share the most magnificent landscape, the cuttest barnyard animals or the most mesmerizing Indian dancers.

Early work was traditional darkroom, black and white and sepia toned photographs often hand tinted to resemble work from 1930s and 1940s.  Today I work primarily in digital photography.  Some of my work is manipulated by use of digital enhancment processes which render a painterly quality.  I also still do some traditional darkroom work.

Lisa Wood
P.O. Box 9699, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505.577.3572
www.elisasphotos.com