Lisa Elmaleh – Everglades – PhotoBook Journal

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Photographer: Lisa Elmaleh (b. Miami, FL & resides in West Virginia, USA)

Essays: Ann McCary Sullivan & Lisa Elmaleh

Text: English

Hardcover book with wrap around cover with interior pocket, Smyth-sewn binding, interior booklet saddle stiched, lithography, without captions or pagination, printed in Richmond, VA

Photobook designer: Andrew Fedynak and Lisa Elmaleh

This photobook, Everglades, by Lisa Elmaleh is a beautiful sonnet about the Florida Everglades and a testimony to her vision and patience. I had enough issues with a 4×5” camera with sheet film on dry land, least taking on the use of huge 8×10” camera (aptly named Fitzgerald Fitzwilliam Fitzgeorge) and the finicky wet collodion glass negative process while stomping around in a swamp. If you are not familiar with the wet collodion process, which dates back to 1851, it requires that the glass plate be prepared and exposed while still “wet” and immediately developed with acid on site after exposure to further complicate her photographic process even more.

Her landscapes photographs of the Everglades wilderness are lyrical and haunting. The resulting imperfections of the wet collodion process add a measure of serendipity and chance, while creating mysterious poetic images, from all that I am told, not unlike the complexity of the Everglades itself. Due to the limitations of her process, this body of work is not meant to be an exacting documentary style investigation of this massive location, but more attuned to capture the emotional essence of her experience.

The hardcover book has contemporary elements in the binding and inclusion of the introductory booklet while the photographs are sequenced and laid out in a classic style, each plate with ample white margins. The plates have an additional coating that provides a very nice sheen that adds to the visual quality of these beautiful black and white images. The Smyth sewn binding allows the book to almost lay flat upon opening that make this book a delightful experience to read.

The photographic titles and date of exposure is available on Lisa Elmaleh’s web site.

Cheers!

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