Elizabeth Opalenik is a fine-art photographer who brings a sense of wonder and possibility to students. Her heart is in philanthropic projects and working in her darkroom, where she creates one-of-a-kind images in the mordançage process, carbon and platinum printing. She mixes digital and traditional media when appropriate to maximize creative possibilities, using images as stepping stones to trace pathways of the mind.

Her first monograph, Poetic Grace: Elizabeth Opalenik Photographs, 1979-2007, chronicles images from the first 30 years of her career. Her latest book and 2021 pandemic project Workshop Stories: changed through photography shares stories and images from 100 leading workshop instructors. Her work is collected and published internationally.