Ellen Rosenberg

– And Still I Rise –
By Ellen Rosenberg

And Still I Rise © Ellen Rosenberg. All Rights Reserved

Eleone Dance Theater presents “Carols In Color,” A Holiday Dance performance. A celebration of life, a retelling of the Gospel according to St Mathew.
A musical filled with the spoken work, song and dance, reflective of the joyous praise one finds within the richest traditions of African American Storytelling. I was given the privilege of photographing this beautiful and spiritual dance celebration. A true gift of performance. The lighting, the costumes, and the energy are, as you see in this small sampling of photographs. A joyful and powerful experience.
One couldn’t help but feel connected to both the performers and the audience,
a sense of love and hope.
The directors, Shawn-Lamere Williams, and Sheila A. Ward are truly gifted in their ability to choreograph this divine performance. A true celebration of life.
I titled this project And Still I Rise, based upon Mayo Angelou’s poem by the same title. I was struck by the comparative nature of her words, especially the lines.. “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise, I rise, I rise”. For both the audience and the performers there was
a wondrous aspect of rising up with hope and healing.

All photographs were taken without flash, so as to not disturb or alter the lighting during the performance. Photographed with digital full frame camera, and pushing the ISO as needed to capture the image.

Ellen S. Rosenberg, on Lens Magazine

Ellen S. Rosenberg spent her childhood on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, a small town called Salisbury Maryland. She later earned her degree in Art Advertising from the University of Maryland. A master’s degree followed from the Temple University School of
Allied Health in Occupational Therapy. Ellen is presently enrolled in the Contemporary Practices Certification Program at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia PA.

Ellen presently lives in Philadelphia, PA, but spends 4 to 5 months in New Orleans, LA, allowing for further development in bodies of work incorporating southern landscape and its people.
She has been juried into the National Association of Women Artists. Her work has been shown in over 100 juried international art shows, as well as invitational and solo exhibitions.
She also photographs for local newspapers in New Orleans during music festivals. Although originally a film photographer, developing and printing her own work in her studio, Ellen has transitioned to digital photography, continuing to print her own work on archival paper, maintaining a personal creative vision that she initiated years ago while shooting in film.

“I grew up during the time of Brownie cameras, black and white family portraits and memories of childhood preserved on by faded 3x 5 snapshots hidden away in a shoebox, only to be viewed during family holidays.” As a teenager, Ellen often hid away in her room, painting, drawing with charcoal, frequently copying the images from old family photographs.

As Ellen pursued dueled careers in motherhood and health care, she put down the paintbrush and channeled her passion for creativity into other more practical venues. Until she saw a documentary on Jackson Pollock. Ellen was struck by his intense drive to create, so foreboding that it destroyed him. But a spark was ignited within her once again.

Being the practical person, Ellen took up photography, naively believing this “type of art’ would make her less vulnerable, yet still allowing for a creative outlet. She was happily mistaken.
Several years ago, Ellen took up the study of Yoga, mindfulness meditation and buddhism. These spiritual studies have shaped how Ellen lives her life, interacts with her surroundings and most importantly how she photographs her subjects.

With her camera, Ellen has learned to see with her third eye, with her spirit, she is always seeking the light. Not necessarily the light of reflections or shadows that are seen by all of us, but the inner light of the object or person she is photographing. Ellen photographs with a mindful pause, allowing time to connect with the world around her. Ellen excels in photographically capturing a wide range of genre-musicians, landscape, cityscapes, abstract, street portraits, dancers, as well as an ongoing passion in the study of gender identification, including photographing drag queens and body builders.

Ellen seeks to reveal an emotional connection with her work, allowing space for the viewer to have a personal response to the story told in her photographs.