About

© 2017 Rachelle Leon Photography

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About

Rachelle Leon was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in the surrounding town of Winthrop. She shortly attended the Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston. While there she discovered her passion for the pen and she earned a BFA in Professional Writing at Salem State University. While at Salem State she combined her photography and writing into a photo blog for her university e-zine, Red Skies. After moving to Maine she attended Southern Maine Community College, where she earned an AS in Marine Biology and Oceanography.

Rachelle is a mostly self-taught multimedia artist who works in jewelry making, fashion design and photography.

In 2011, Rachelle was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Because of her brain lesions she developed poor memory and facial recognition, along with a myriad of other symptoms. She began to look at photos she had taken and she'd write whatever came to mind. One emotion would lead to another and eventually she'd remember something once long forgotten. Immediately she'd leave the room she was in and envision the memory as if it were yesterday. No matter how many times she looked at the same photo, she'd never get sick of that feeling. That feeling of appreciating something so fleeting is such a gift. The photos made her realize that her memories weren't gone. They were just deep within her soul and needed help pushing through the darkness.

Whether photographing nature, an object, or person Rachelle's only hope is for others to be able to feel. She wants her photography to be used as a tool to help the viewer remember his own personal memories; pieces to his story that may have been missing. Memories are precious and powerful and fleeting.

Some of Rachelle’s influences include Frida Kahlo, Alphonse Mucha, Sire John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll, Ansel Adams, Jerry Uelsmann, and Annie Leibovitz.

Rachelle currently resides in Gorham Maine with her husband, Max and their three cats, Ichabod, Pumpkin, and Moriarty and their two potbelly pigs, Barnabas Jayne and Igor Von Porkenstein.