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  • Born and raised in Northern California, Monika Elena was surrounded by the warm light that now fills her glowing photos.
  • “ I want everything in a natural element, raw, imperfect, and bathed in light, as real and pure as it can be, there is just so much more magic in that. The summer season is my muse , I spend most of my days outside in the water and in the sun, close to the earth, surrounded by light, always creating, constantly inspired by nature. Within my photography I have continuously looked in to the light, mostly sunrise or sunset...during these hours, as the sun is low, life is a bit more obscure, less definitive, aglow...people are lighter, gentler....people embody what is around them and they become the light. This is how I choose to see the world and the people I am surrounded by. At home there is a bookshelf full of poetry , I am devoted to camera is my pen and the sun is the light I paint with. I surrender to romanticism, but always backed by spiritualism. My photographs stir up emotions, create moods, they are visual poems."

She received her BA at San Francisco State University.

Monika is currently available in Northern California for shoots, but open to travel. She lives in Northern California with her 2 children.