Elisabeth Caren

According to her website, Caren is an editorial and advertising photogapher specializing in celebrity portraiture entainment and fine art photography based in LA.  Her clients include Lionsgate Entertainment, MTV and Atlantic Recordes.  Her work has been featured in high profile magazines like People, Etnrainment Weekly, More, Esquie, NY and InStyle.  Additionally her work has been featured on television shows, curated by galleries and fine art shows and awarded in California.

Her work is influenced by her lifetime experiences in theatre and film heavily influences her work, which is classic and cinematic.

Celebrity photographs abound on her website and while innovative it is her fine art work which captured my imagination.

Photograph by Elisabeth Caren

Caren’s images, while appearing simple, are complex and have a flair for the dramatic.  Costumes are complicated but the set is simple.  While the corset is an extravagant prop the shutters used as a backdrop and the timber floors are relatively simple and do not complicate the scene.  The horizontal lines of the backdrop contrast with the vertical lines of the petticoat, and enhance the curves of the female body.

Photograph by Elisabeth Caren

The curves of the female body are enhanced, almost exaggerated the corset, cinching the waist and flows out to the hips, emphasizing her womanly figure, reminiscent of child bearing hips.  The organic nature of the hemp/ hoop petticoat, timber floors and the backdrop of soft subdued colours is again simple.  It is meant to look like a staged scene.    

When you look at one of Caren’s images, you are drawn to the subject in each image, with the background and surrounds emphasizing and leading the viewer’s eye to the subject.

Photograph by Elisabeth Caren

In the images I have chosen, the women are the central theme.  Whether they are in a boudoir setting, water or surrounded by flying pages the women are central to the story, whatever the story is. 

Photograph by Elisabeth Caren

Celebrity portraiture and advertising form a major component of Caren’s website, however her fine art work is what attracted me to her work.  The images have a theatrical quality, staged as historical or cinematic glimpses of the subject’s life. 

While the images appears to be simple in their composition and minimalistic in presentation, it is evident that many hours must go into finding the costumes, locations and backdrops.  The planning for each shoot, I imagine, would be extensive, requiring someone to source the props and locations, stylists, hair and make up artists, lighting assistants and others to assist in the actual shoots.  Although work seems simplistic, there are other images that are so complex it is difficult to know how and where the image was conceptualized.  This image relies more on craft than post editing technology.

Through the choice of various props and settings, Caren’s work conveys a fine art feel, however it is apparent that she is an exceptional portrait photographer.  The subject is complemented by the props and what is going on around them, rather that the background overtaking the subject.

Very little can be found about the theories and ideas behind her concepts, however her images are imaginative and almost magical.  For more of her work visit http://www.ecarenphoto.com

Posted by Alex