Paola Batzella was born 1979 in Washington DC. Her mother being from Argentina, and father from Italy, Paola grew up being exposed to different cultures and travelling all over the world from a young age. She was always fascinated as she watched her mother, a fine art photographer, shoot images, develop and print them in the darkroom they had in their home. She then decided that she wanted to be a photographer too. Throughout high school she was taking pictures of everything, and realized that she was drawn to photographing people and capturing their emotions. Paola liked to shoot in black and white because it conveys a certain classic timelessness. She continued to expand her photography skills throughout her 4 years at Bishop’s University, where she earned a BA in fine arts in 2001.

After graduating, Paola was offered an internship with Grazia Neri photo agency in Milan, Italy, where she learned the inner workings of the photography industry. A few months later she moved to New York City where she assisted photographers, and worked at magazines such as Vanity Fair and Black Book, and for the famed Magnum Photo Agency. At Magnum, she had the opportunity to meet and work with several National Geographic photographers and developed a passion for travel and documentary photography. She took a few courses at International Center of Photography and shortly after, embarked on a photo journey throughout Peru, including the Amazon. Based in NYC, Paola continues to travel, explore and photograph all corners of the world as well as working on her other passion, black and white fine art photography and portraiture. Paola has been published in magazines, and has exhibited in Canada and NY, and most recently, in Barcelona, Spain.



ARTIST STATEMENT
With portraiture, I strive to enter into the inner worlds of my subjects, achieving an intimacy that allows me to capture their deep emotions. I achieve this by capturing that “decisive moment”, Henri-Cartier Bresson’s term for “the sublime split second when a scene achieves equilibrium before the lens, and the photographer aligns his brain, eye and heart...on the same axis.” that instant when the subject is unaware of the camera and their soul is bared. Overall, my images, whether portraiture, landscapes, or still life, color or black and white, convey visual drama in a poetic manner, enhanced by a dreamlike, serene and ethereal like atmosphere.  

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