Rising Photographers / U

I grew up idealizing the natural world as a refuge from urbanity, a place of solace and spiritual renewal, and a source of awe and transcendence. But as urbanization and other human activity continue to erase them, these pristine wildernesses have become few and far between.

The series "Perspectives in Motion" is derived from my "Rear Seat Diaries," captured from a moving car –my wheelchair-accessible VW Caddy with a rear ramp. I sit in my electric wheelchair at the back of my Caddy, facing forward.

I am a photographer who documents unrecorded areas of society. In the 1970s, I took environmental portraits of children from more than a hundred families in New York City with different socioeconomic backgrounds.

A Sparrow on the Floor of a Cathedral is a series of B&W inkjet photographs of underwater geologic elements, the seafloor, and marine creatures printed on high quality matte paper and bordered with information relevant to the image, such as the vessel, sponsoring organization and where/when I came upon the scene. Linking the images to physical reality, these details nod to the work of nineteenth-century U.S. geological survey photographers like Thomas O’Sullivan.

During my visit to Armenia, I was interested in the life of the Yazidis, an ancient ethno-religious community whose members are mainly Kurds. Many Yazidis came to Armenia during the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century to escape religious persecution.

My two passions are photography and travel but sometimes they can be at odds with one another. My ideal trip is one where I can explore my surroundings in a leisurely manner, wandering here and there with no time constraints to find interesting subjects and compositions to photograph. But, alas, it doesn’t always work out that way.

Surgery on my right hand in June 2023 left me unable to hold my camera, much less use it. From photographic daily to just looking at my camera sitting alone on the table looking back at me, left me extremely sad. In an effort to avoid falling deep into a dark place, I needed to find a way to make photographs.

Elisa Miller's body of work "The Other" is a vibrant feminist narrative that transcends societal norms and explores the complex struggles of womanhood. Miller challenges established histories and societal constructs.

Imagine motorcycles unlike any others you’ve seen before, ornate mechanical confections like Fabergé eggs with engines, exquisite but hard-boiled — and big, resplendent in the variety of their design and spectacular enough to be arrayed on pedestals in a museum. In fact, they were.