Elyse Mertz, photographer
Elyse Mertz is a NJ/NYC based photographer who constantly studies movement, gentle or gritty. She reflects on youthfulness, the limits of the body, and its emotional and physical potential. In her work, Mertz seeks to capture humanity - whether through portraits, dancers, or performances. She uses the camera to create the clarity and chaos reflected in our ever-changing bodies.
As a self-taught photographer, Elyse is contstantly pulling from her artistic background to aid her craft. She has studied under Rose Eichenbaum at the Art of Photographing Dance Workshop at Jacob's Pillow in 2017 and 2019. She has also been learning from Whitney Browne since 2017 at Jacob's Pillow and in Browne’s "Experimental Photography", "Seeing Light" and "Creative Composition" workshops in 2020.
Elyse is currently the house photographer for Center for Performance Research (CPR), Williamsburg Arts NeXus (WAXworks), and Princeton Youth Ballet. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Playbill, and the Glasgow Gallery of Photography, among other places. Elyse received her BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in 2017. She is an ©ABT Certified Teacher and received her 200-hr Yoga Certification in 2016 with the OM Factory. She is an active educator at Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and with Notes in Motion; teaching ballet, modern dance, creative movement and yoga to youth. She has also studied with Little Flower Yoga to further her knowledge of teaching children.
