My father gave me my very first camera, a tiny Olympus rangefinder, on my 15th birthday. A year later I wandered into a darkroom for the first time and have been captivated by the art of storytelling through images ever since.
I’ve always been drawn to the dark, dramatic beauty of black and white film and the challenge of traditional processes. I’m fascinated by the alchemy that happens between artist and subject, and I live for that moment when the image floats up through the chemistry and what I see in my mind actually appears on the paper, like magic.
Hannah Neal is a native Texan whose work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally. Since the 1994 opening of her Austin-based studio, she has specialized in fine art portraiture and photography of the performing arts.