Emma Powell

Emma Powell (b. 1985), received her MFA in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her work has been exhibited both within the United States and internationally. Powell has taught photography at the college level for over ten years, including full-time at Colorado College and Iowa State University. She has also been an instructor, leading alternative process photography workshops at Penland School of Crafts, and other educational institutions.

Emma Powell employs historic photographic techniques to create dreamscapes reminiscent of 20th-century surrealist scenes. Inspired by photographers Sally Mann and Dan Estabrook for their use of vintage processes, as well as her parents, a photographer and a photo historian, Powell produces cyanotypes—blue-toned photographs developed with iron and cyanide that she tones down, or makes warmer, by adding tea and wine.