Elisa Lazo de Valdez joins us!

Elisa Lazo de Valdez at her official site, her blog, her live-journal, deviantART, Model Mayhem.

"Luna III"

"Beads II"

" My work has been described as sensual, erotic, surreal, dark, beautiful, inspired and just plain weird." 

Dark ?... I'm not so sure. Inspired and terribly original of course. With a mystical surreal touch, I agree. But Elisa Lazo de Valdez has forgotten to mention the inner poetry of her work, her prodigious imagination, and even somewhat deliciously romantic (in the true meaning of this wonderful word we love so much in France).

In her work, sophistication comes together with simplicity in an innovative artistic universe. Through a large and inventive portfolio, Elisa offers us her full range of talent and creativity.

No need to tell you how much I'm impressed by the high quality of her work, and glad to welcome such a great artist !

"White II"

" Hiding the bodies to better show them, disguising their appearance of a veil of smoke, of a wet and plastic transparency, of milk or dried mud, of a heavy fabric rich of anonymity to exalt their forms, then putting them in intertwining strings which distort the curves… A gallery of black-winged angels, a tarot of masks, and other series as imagination is multifaceted." Source Incubus' Choice

" I have been a commited photographer for over 6 years and a hobbyist 10 years prior to that.

I specialize in luxe fashion and creative nudes.

My work has appeared internationally for book covers, magazine features and gallery exhibitions.

My work has been described as sensual, erotic, surreal, dark, beautiful, inspired and just plain weird :

From photo-inside :

"Zoey"

" Heavily influenced by the pagan aspects of Catholic iconography, mythology, the Art Deco and Art Nouveau aesthetic and turn of the century horror fiction, her work reflects dark sensuality and luxury of form.

Having worked in the design and advertising field she is strongly drawn to the balance of form and the strength of color and contrast.

Elisa tries to express the beauty of form by contrasting it with texture and fabric, wrapping it in shadow and making us long for light.

It is the pure form hidden, promising delights beyond what we can see. Images that are dream like, exotic and alien."

"Wind I"

"The Descent"





I studied design and advertising and part of the program involved a semester of photography. I continued to shoot images to use as references for my illustrations and at some point realized the photographs themselves were complete works of art.

I always wanted to be a graphic designer and illustrator and it seems in the end I have become one with the camera as my tool.

"Butterfly Tree II"

My photography is inspired by illustrators, painters and costume designers : Eiko Ishioka, Yoshitaka Amano, Ray Cesar, Walton Ford, Andrew Wyeth, John William Waterhouse, William Bouguereau, John Singer Sargent to name a very few.

Man Ray was my first exposure to photography as an art form and I was fascinated with his work for a long time. I think Albert Watson is a modern genius, I admire the work of Floria Sigismondi for blinding color and have always loved Edward Curtis not only because most of his images of Native American tribes were staged and not authentic to the times but his idealized version of things but particularly because his studio portraits and unbelievably haunting.

"Golden"








"Golden II"

"The Scarlet Veil"

My creative process is very spur of the moment. My ideas are very raw and abstract in my mind and are inspired by books I am reading, painters and illustrators I love, movies I've seen, dreams, snippets of conversations, fairy tales, mythology and horror stories.

Up until the model steps through my door I am really not sure what we will be shooting and where beyond fashion or nude.

The whole day depends on the vibe I get from the model and what I think will suit them and of course how much they are willing to endure.

"Fainting Couch"

"Head Full of Yarn"

I would like to note that my images are not digitally manipulated but rather the effects and surreal elements are created in the real world using a theatrical mindset.

Masks (made by Phillip Valdez, Paper Sculptor), costuming, light reflection, projections and different fabrics and screens as filters are my tools of choice.

Although I shoot with a digital camera in my small way I am honoring the history of photography and creating my "realities" the old fashioned way !"