Lisa Tyson Ennis

About the Artist

I photograph what the eye can not see.Working in extremely low light conditions, with the resulting extended exposures, film is able to collect the changing light as it passes across the landscape, forming a composite of the light as it travels with time. It is this resulting quality of light that so interests me and which seems to suggest a certain timelessness.I work solely with historical processes using large and medium format cameras, wet plate collodion and tintype, black and white film, handmade toners, encaustic and oil paints.

In the field, I am searching for that ethereal but fleeting unison of light and landscape which appears simultaneously both representational and symbolic. In the darkroom, I hand print each piece, painting with light to enhance and intensify the image collected on the film.By seeking subjects that are visually quiet, the quality of the light itself becomes the essence of the piece.