Elisabeth Ladwig is an award-winning photographic artist living in the Hudson Valley. Her work is the convergence of photography, graphic design, and collage art. Fueling her creations is a grade-school revelation connecting science, nature, and magic: the idea that all of life’s mysteries fall within the parameters of scientific explanation, that science abides by the Laws of Nature, and that all of it is magical. Today, she offers viewers a variety of metaphors for the miracles all around us, and for humankind's relationship with the Earth and with the Cosmos.

Her artistic career began as a graphic artist in the NYC music industry, which presented the opportunity for her to create designs for recording artists like Liza Minnelli, Barry Manilow, Patrick Stewart and more, for Broadway shows, and for major motion pictures. She loved the process of combining all the pieces of the puzzle – graphic elements, typography, and photographs, balancing color, space, and contrast, and presenting them in a single, cohesively designed package. Similarly, experimenting with collage art was an unsurprising source of enjoyment, when from this a much larger branch grew in the form of using her own photographs.

Elisabeth later moved farther from the City, where she has felt much more at home surrounded by Nature. Abundant woodlands and water sources offer endless inspiration to her multi-layered creative process. Her current work explores modern surrealism, combining multiple photographs for seamlessly blended imagery. Once an idea is born in her sketchbook, she gathers the photos needed to create it. Shoots in her studio capture the subject and other staged elements, while other photographs are taken on her travels and dedicated field trips. Elisabeth is always on the lookout for interesting props and vintage costumes, and may handcraft part of a scene when the image calls for it.  

Elisabeth’s process is variable and spiritually instinctive; often, an image is well on its way or completed before she fully understands its message, and that meaning may vary from one viewing to the next. All of her scenes have a strong natural connection, set completely or partially outdoors, often with an anonymous subject. “Anonymity allows the viewer to take part in writing the story,” she says, “and that story is going to be different for everyone.”

Her work has appeared in venues from Scottsdale to Rome, on magazine covers, and on digital displays in Times Square and at the Louvre.  

Statement

I was eleven when I decided adults were wrong: magic does exist.

As I lay in the grass watching pre-tornado skies, I realized it was all around me, hidden behind the sciences of meteorology, botany, astronomy... the warmth of miracles overshadowed by equations and proofs. It became clear that the beauty of science, nature, and magic was one and the same, and it saddened me that the miraculous nature of it all had been dismissed so irresponsibly over time. Nature is full of stories of creativity, courage, and survival, inspiring me to be more aware of how I might craft my own life for a meaningful journey. Photo compositing allows me to create metaphorical reminders of the magic and miracles all around us in an attempt to bring humanity back home to its roots: kin of the Earth. So with a nod to Mother Nature and her fairytale existence, I work to seek out equal beauty in the storm as in the sunrise.