Lisa Silvestri was born and raised in New Orleans. She moved to New York to study fashion and photography in 1980. After completing her education she designed her own children's clothing label, Ida Ltd., which sold worldwide. She created all of Ida's advertising images, gaining much experience photographing children. In 1997 she turned her focus solely to photography and her work has been featured in Self, Martha Stewart, Money, Smart Money and Avenue magazines.

Lisa uses a large format view camera, shooting either 4x5 or 5x7 negatives. Contact prints are made directly from the negative using a 19th century process. Platinum and/or palladium metals are hand mixed in liquid form and the paper is hand coated. Prints are exposed to sun or ultraviolet light source to complete the process.
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