About me
The person behind the shutter
I'm Elara — a fine-art photographer working between the quiet and the monumental. For over a decade I've been drawn to the way a single beam of light can turn an ordinary moment into something worth keeping forever.
My work lives mostly in monochrome, but never cold. I build each frame with the patience of darkroom craft and the clarity of modern glass, so the emotion stays long after the colour fades. On a wedding day that means you will barely notice me; in the studio it means we talk far more than we pose.
I live in Portland with a very old dog and far too many negatives, and I travel for roughly a third of the year. If your day is somewhere else entirely, that is usually the best kind of booking.
“I chase the light that most people walk past.”
How I work
Four things I hold to
Available light first
Flash is a last resort, not a default. Rooms have their own character and I would rather work with it than flatten it.
Unhurried, always
Good frames come from patience. I arrive early, I stay late, and I never rush a family through a group shot.
Edited by hand
No presets applied across a wedding. Each photograph is finished individually, so the set reads like one continuous story.
Yours to keep
Every client receives full-resolution files and a print release. Your photographs should outlive any website, including mine.
A short history
Twelve years of light
2014
First commissioned wedding, shot on borrowed film bodies in the Columbia Gorge.
2017
Opened the Alder Court studio in Portland and moved to medium format for portraits.
2021
First editorial commissions in Lisbon and Copenhagen; the Places series began.
2026
Twelve years, 480 commissions and a diary that still fills on word of mouth.
Let's meet properly
Most bookings begin with a twenty-minute call — no pressure, no sales patter. Tell me about the day and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right photographer for it.
Book a call