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About Elizabeth

I have been an artist since childhood, having come by it honestly from my mother and grandfather. While I always had a camera, and practically grew up in my mother's darkroom, painting had been my primary form of expression and photography was something to do on vacations. Now I find that photography is my passion. But not just any photography - I am driven to photograph people. I have learned that my camera is a conduit for connections to be made between me and my subject. I love talking… more
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Shopping Carts, Vacuum Cleaners, and Tires

I am drawn to grime, grit, left overs, and junk. These are about color and composition - beauty in the lost.
  • Little Tavern
    Little Tavern
    This may be the last remnant of the Little Tavern fast food places left. I liked the view from the tires.
  • New and Used Tires
    New and Used Tires
    I took this for the colors and how typical it is for Baltimore neighborhoods.
  • Basketball
    Basketball
    What ingenuity.
  • Edmondson Avenue
    Edmondson Avenue
    As a child, my mother took us to piano lessons in the city and we drove in on Edmondson Ave. This cemetery and its neighborhood always intrigued me.
  • Dresses
    Dresses
    Dresses for sale on the street. Great presentation!
  • Vacuum Cleaner Salesman
    Vacuum Cleaner Salesman
    The man of the house is watching me as I photograph his vacuum cleaners that are for sale.
  • Outdoor Living
    Outdoor Living
    All over the city, I find discarded chairs. This one looks like it belongs there, even though the house is empty.
  • Members Only
    Members Only
    Near North Avenue.
  • Junk Yard
    Junk Yard
    I loved the color of this place, and the ashtray next to the chair that made it look like a living room of sorts.
  • Shopping Cart
    Shopping Cart
    This shopping cart seemed so alone and discarded.
    •

    • City Gardens, Baltimore

    I found a few hidden gardens in the back streets and alleys of the city, as well as porches decorated with year-round flowers in bright plastic colors.
    • Greenhouse
      Greenhouse
      On a very rainy day, I took shelter in a greenhouse next to a small city church. The rain on the plastic roof, the bright green plants and loamy soil made it a lovely respite.
    • Community Garden
      Community Garden
      This garden was a bit disheveled, but still used.
    • Porch Garden
      Porch Garden
      Another example of plastic flowers pretty-ing up a porch.
    • Orange
      Orange
      This porch was begging to be photographed.
    • Tire Pots 2
      Tire Pots 2
      More tire pots full of color.
    • Tire Pot
      Tire Pot
      These pots made out of old tires are everywhere once you notice them. I thought this one was especially pretty with the green plants against the red decoration and the brick buildings.
    • Garden on the Wall
      Garden on the Wall
      Another bit of beauty.
    • Blue Flowers
      Blue Flowers
      Just one example of someone pretty-ing up their backyard.
    • City Farmer
      City Farmer
      This was a group of neighborhood gardens growing all kinds of fresh vegetables. This man seemed quite popular, and appeared to be giving away some of his produce.
    • Westport Community Garden
      Westport Community Garden
      There was never anything growing in the garden - winter or summer. I asked a few people why it wasn't maintained and they said they didn't know.
    •

    • The City that Reads

    I happened on a bench on North Avenue that read "Baltimore, the Greatest City in America" against the backdrop of trash and peeling paint and found it sad, like the bench was trying to tell the street to straighten up. After that I noticed the benches and began to photograph their settings.
    • Bus Stop Bench
      Bus Stop Bench
    • Graffiti Bench
      Graffiti Bench
    • Edmondson Avenue Bench
      Edmondson Avenue Bench
    • East Baltimore Bench
      East Baltimore Bench
    • Wilkins Avenue Bench 2
      Wilkins Avenue Bench 2
    • Wilkins Avenue Bench
      Wilkins Avenue Bench
    • Red Warehouse
      Red Warehouse
    • North Avenue Bench
      North Avenue Bench
    •

    • Writing on the Wall

    Although I usually photograph people, now and then I come across some graffiti that strikes me as humorous or beautiful. This is just a compilation of some that I particularly like.
    • A Note to a Friend
      A Note to a Friend
      This note was taped to a wall on Howard Street. It is so sad in so many ways.
    • Savage Life
      Savage Life
      Yes it is....
    • Car Wash
      Car Wash
      There was no car wash near here at all.
    • RIP
      RIP
      This is not a well-composed photograph, but I suppose that perhaps someone died on this spot and it made me think.
    • Caged Shopping Cart
      Caged Shopping Cart
      Why is the shopping cart locked up?
    • 213 Bowie
      213 Bowie
      Love the color - like a painting.
    • Chanelle
      Chanelle
      Requited love?
    • The Proposal
      The Proposal
      Unrequited love?
    • No Dumping 2
      No Dumping 2
      A different definition of "No Dumping".
    • No Dumping
      No Dumping
      Corner in Baltimore, not atypical. A man told me that the trash doesn't get collected properly. They call and call and nothing happens.
    •

    • Alleys of Baltimore

    I happened to go down an alley one day as I was photographing Baltimore neighborhoods and saw an unpeopled, hidden world. I started searching the alleys for something interesting. Sometimes the contents of an entire house are dumped in the back yard, sometimes a chained dog barks, sometimes there are flowers on the fence, and sometimes just a lonely chair or two.
    • The Yellow Chair
      The Yellow Chair
      One yellow chair at the end of the yard.
    • Trash Cans
      Trash Cans
      I just liked the row of trash cans in back of these houses.
    • Beware of Dog
      Beware of Dog
      Some fancy dog house!
    • Mattresses
      Mattresses
      Mattresses, mattresses and more mattresses.
    • On the Ground
      On the Ground
      I never learned what the man in the orange jump suit was doing on the ground. He eventually got up, and I could tell that he was not intoxicated - he was working on something.
    • Scarecrow
      Scarecrow
      At first I didn't notice the dummy perched on the fence. Then I did.
    • The Green Chair
      The Green Chair
      Another chair just hanging around waiting for someone to sit on it.
    • The Dog
      The Dog
      The dog peeking out from the fenced yard with this green couch in the middle of the alley struck me as funny.
    • Birds on the Wire
      Birds on the Wire
      Someone had made this a beautiful sanctuary, and the birds liked it also.
    • The Orange Chair
      The Orange Chair
      This chair was in pretty good shape. How did it get to be left there on its side?
    •

    • The Aesthetic of Resilience - Baltimore Work and Play

    In the city, catching kids doing normal things, like playing street football or a pick up game of basketball with a plastic milk box for the net, is fun because they aren't posing. People at their jobs is also great because they are focused on the work, not on me. Getting people to relax and stop posing, so that my images reflect the person that they are, is always my goal.
    • Jerusalem Baptist
      Jerusalem Baptist
      These men were congregating outside before church started. Everyone was dressed up and in a good mood.
    • Junk Yard
      Junk Yard
      I happend on this junk yard / recycling plant near the water in East Baltimore. I think the lamps and flag are a fixture. A great, interesting place to photograph.
    • Polock Johnny
      Polock Johnny
      Unfortunately, I went back to find this man again so that I could follow him with his Sunday morning paper routine, and discovered that the Polock Johnny's has been torn down and replaced with a non-descript yellow warehouse and this man is nowhere to be found.
    • Paper Seller
      Paper Seller
      I think Baltimore is the only city where there are scores of men out on Sunday morning selling newspapers on street corners. I am fascinated by this and plan to do a project on the guys that do it.
    • At the Laundromat
      At the Laundromat
      Watching her wash go round and round.
    • The Chess Game
      The Chess Game
      Reminded me of the chess players in Union Square park in New York City. This was a relatively bad neighborhood, by some people's standards, but how can one feel afraid with a chess game going on.
    • Westport Skate Park
      Westport Skate Park
      I loved the juxtaposition of the typical Baltimore row-houses against the skateboarder in the air.
    • Morrell Park Playground
      Morrell Park Playground
      This girl looked isolated and self-conscious, alone on the swing-set, even though there were other kids around her.
    • Street Basketball
      Street Basketball
      Caught the ball in mid-air.
    • Sand Lot Baseball
      Sand Lot Baseball
      Why is the mattress on the baseball field?
    •

    • The Aesthetic of Resilience - Baltimore At Home

    I want to get an intimate portrayal of the people I meet in front of their houses, where they are relaxing on the porch. Sometimes, they graciously invited me in and let me get closer. These images are some of my favorites; I think because I just felt so welcomed and honored.
    • Girl on the Porch
      Girl on the Porch
      Just hanging out on a hot summer day.
    • Mother and Sons
      Mother and Sons
      The two men were sitting outside when I stopped by to chat. The woman was peeking out the door, and finally she came out. Unbelievably, she is their mother - in her late 70's. She reminisced about the neighborhood (West Baltimore) when she was a kid. She said she used to go to the bakery and buy 7 loaves of bread. You had to get 10 loaves before they gave you a bag, so they tied it up with a string. By the time she got home, the bread was crushed and falling out - she hated that bakery!
    • Dog Under Skirt
      Dog Under Skirt
      Westport grandmother on her porch.
    • Gigi
      Gigi
      Gigi is a warm, beautiful woman. These two kids are not hers, and they are not brother and sister. She helps them with their homework after school every day, takes them to the Dollar Store, and just hangs out with them because their parents don't do any of those things. I plan to go back and talk to her again.
    • One-Eyed Man
      One-Eyed Man
      Westport again.
    • Oxygen
      Oxygen
      I spent a lot of time with this man, talking about Westport as it was in the 60's. He told me that people thought I was a cop and wondered why I was talking to him and that the kids across the street were dealing.
    • Remington
      Remington
      This man was so nice. Loved his suspenders.
    • Apartment B
      Apartment B
      I happend on this couple in Pig Town. They live together, unmarried, in Apartment B. They want to get married, but they can't afford to because he is paying his ex-wife alimony, even though she is remarried and has a job. He has a lot of physical problems. Her daughter painted the sign in front.
    • Welcome
      Welcome
      This lady lives in Morrell Park. She and her dog and her decorations are all so cute.
    • Green Kitchen
      Green Kitchen
      I spent a fair amount of time with this woman from Westport and her family. They were all so kind and seemed close knit. She was quiet, and I think matriarchal. This photograph reflected her with me.
    •

    • The Aesthetic of Resilience - Baltimore On the Street

    These portraits are about life on the streets of Baltimore. The people that I photographed have been kind, curious, humorous, talkative or reticent with me - all a mixture that has touched me in different ways. They have each given me a piece of themselves as we exchanged a moment of time on the street.
    • American Gourmet
      American Gourmet
      I loved this menu.
    • Waiting for the Car Wash
      Waiting for the Car Wash
      I loved the row of people just waiting for their cars to be washed.
    • Ski Mask
      Ski Mask
      I spent a lot of time in Westport. This was taken in the winter on a very cold day. His friends didn't want their photograph taken, but he didn't mind and stayed with me for some time.
    • Drug Store
      Drug Store
      The young men in Westport congregated at this corner. Once, someone told me that they were dealing drugs there, but I never saw it.
    • Sweeping
      Sweeping
      Westport woman in front of her house, sweeping the sidewalk. She was going to have her mole removed in a week or so, but she let me take her photograph even though she didn't like the way she looked. I loved her smile and her beautiful scarf.
    • Posing
      Posing
      Loved her green and white shirt against the green and white cab. She and her girlfriend joked around with me.
    • Taking a Break
      Taking a Break
      These two men both knew I was there photographing - the one on the right obviously did not care.
    • Sadness
      Sadness
      This was taken on a very warm day in early spring. She just looked at me like this as she let me photograph her. She seems so sad.
    • Smokey
      Smokey
      I was photographing the people who worked at this crab carry-out when this man rode up on the best bike I have ever seen. And apparently the carry-out workers as well.
    • That Girl
      That Girl
      I believe this woman was strung out on some drug - she was intermittently falling asleep and waking up and talking to me. Finally she walked away. I thought her outfit was fabulous.
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