A short biography

I was born in Southern California, the youngest of six children.
My earliest dream was to go to France. With the support of my mother I went to live for a year with a family in Paris when I was fifteen,  and attended classes at Cours Désir. I began visiting museums with the encouragement of my French family and the freedom given to me on Wednesdays without classes.  It was there that I began to engage with images, finding a companionship outside of time. It articulated something that I had kept secret — a wish for a creative life. My first impulse in this direction came through studying classical ballet beginning at age 12. The matter of finding my work, however, would remain unsettled for many years as I quietly sought expression in diverse things, trying to discover how to express my desire— the emotional experience of my inner life.  I went to UC Santa Cruz, where I studied dance and literature, art and film history for a year, then returned to Paris, where I attended a book arts program, then through friendships, travelled to Japan, moved to Alaska, and then to San Francisco. I attended City College, choosing to study film initially and then at the suggestion of one of my teachers, took a still photography course.
It was after the first two rolls of film that I sensed that I had discovered my work, and simultaneously, a great joy.  I found that making photographs was a way to express my love. After two years of courses, I found a mentor in Walter Chappell and moved to
New Mexico to work with him.  He encouraged me to use the 8x10 view camera, and it became the principal instrument of my work. He gave me a foundation in printmaking, and a grounding in overall technique, practices which cultivated greater respect for my materials and an awareness of the discipline that would be required to go further, to go all the way. Walter was more than an influence, he was an inspirer, a motivator, who gave me my first important responsibilities in life, some of which were organizing his photographs, assisting him in sequencing, and editing his writing. He taught me that one's work has a destiny of its own, independent from one's individual destiny. One endeavors to prepare the work for going out into world, like a child, and at some point one lets go, sending it out and releasing control for how it will be received, keeping hope, nevertheless, that it will survive, and live well, beyond its maker. 

After moving to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in 2010, I began collaborating with Stinehour Editions on the digitization and reproduction of art, working on projects for artists and organizations including the Maurice Sendak Foundation for whom I prepare files for forthcoming editions of Sendak’s books. Designing websites evolved out of this, a natural expression of my desire to support other artists in fulfilling their work, one way of which is through the clarifying and organizing aspects of a website, reaching into the etheric realms of the internet.

All photographs on this site are available for purchase. A selection of immediately available prints can be found in the shop. Larger formats of the pigment ink prints are available through Stinehour Editions.  For any and all enquiries, please contact me through the button below. 

Additional photographs can be viewed on the following sites:  
 
Art Photo Index  ·  Stinehour Editions 
Photo Eye's Photographer's Showcase  ·  Flickr 

Curriculum Vitae and a short film made in 1995

To view my work as a designer of websites:

tobiegiddio.com · stinehoureditions.com  ·  samuelwooten.com  
 paulickovic.photography · nakkigoranin.com   ·   sandykamins.com   ·   christopherstinehourdesign.com

nomen est omen

Linda Elvira Piedra is the name I was given at birth, and the name with which my photographs were first credited in 1996, when I photographed Dead Can Dance for 4AD Records. To be called Elvira as a first name began in 1997, though I continued  to exhibit and publish my photographic work under my full name, and it remains the signature beneath all of my pictures. In 2014, I exhibited for the first time as Elvira Piedra, and it is this name to which the work is now attributed.