Ellen Rennard

Photographer

When I was a wee girl, my father, a serious amateur photographer, put his Rolleiflex on a tripod, set up his lights, and told me to look at the camera and hold still.   That was the beginning.  Some time later, a B.A. in... read on
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When I was a wee girl, my father, a serious amateur photographer, put his Rolleiflex on a tripod, set up his lights, and told me to look at the camera and hold still.   That was the beginning.  Some time later, a B.A. in Independent Studies from Princeton University, where I wrote my thesis on images of Native Americans, then an M.A. in English from Middlebury.  Finally, after years of teaching and writing and single-parenting my daughter Emily, in 1998 I began to photograph in earnest. My first workshop, taught by Douglas Kent Hall, was called The Camera and the Pen.  I figured that if I couldn’t load film, I could always write, but by the end of the first morning, I had overcome my anxiety and was completely hooked.  I took more classes, then, in 2000, studied with Shelby Lee Adams at Anderson Ranch.  I subsequently assisted him in eastern Kentucky and on commercial shoots, and worked as the still photographer for the documentary, The True Meaning of Pictures.   Many other teachers and friends have also helped me along the way; for their encouragement I am most grateful.   I currently teach at Groton School, in Groton, MA, write book reviews for Fraction Magazine and photo-eye, and am working on a book on The Downs at Albuquerque.