Ellen Friedlander is a Los Angeles-based artist who uses a variety of in-camera and post processing techniques to reveal the unpredictable, idiosyncratic, inscrutable nature of the human condition. Her style is fueled by curiosity and a commitment to a multiple point of view: drawn to the street, landscape, documentary photography and portraiture. She has been inspired by 20th century photographers (Winogrand, Callahan, Friedlander – unfortunately no relations – and Cartier-Bresson) to take to the city streets across the United States, as well as in Hong Kong where she raised her family. Friedlander holds a BFA in Art with a Minor in Photography from Ithaca College and a MA in Mass Communications from the University of Florida. After 35 years of working in all facets of the business of photography; assisting, styling, representing and working on her own photographic assignments, she has found her own way of expressing the street with the “Extended Frame.”

Friedlander is a Kipaipai fellow as well as Co-Director of Pasadena Photography Arts, which promotes diverse photography projects by established and emerging photographers worldwide through Open Show and FORUM events. She has been featured in Lenscratch, The Hand Magazine, The Candid Frame podcast – Episode #499, and guest curator on “The Crit House” podcast. During March-April, 2021, three of Friedlander’s photographs from her "Betrayal” series were in a group show at Austin Desmond Fine Art in London. During that same time, she had her first solo show at The Photographer's Eye Gallery in Escondido, CA where she exhibited her "Extended Frame" body of work. Friedlander ended 2021 with a feature in the LA Weekly, “Meet an Artist Monday.” Friedlander stays connected to the Los Angeles artist community as a member of the Los Angeles Street Collective sponsored by LACP.

In the often chaotic and overwhelming pace of life, I use my camera to create a visual diary of the places and experiences that I see before me. My process is one of simultaneous observation and reflection, and also integrated with elements of disruption. Using a variety of in-camera and post processing techniques of layering, cutting and assemblage of new visual narratives, I reveal the unpredictable, idiosyncratic, inscrutable nature of the human condition. Ultimately, my style is fueled by curiosity and a commitment to a multiple point of view: I am drawn to the street, landscape, documentary photography and portraiture.

~ Ellen Friedlander