Lucy Hilmer (b. 1945, Washington, DC) is a San Francisco photographer, poet, and documentary filmmaker. She studied photography with Lisette Model, Larry Sultan, and Tom Baird at UC Extension in the early 1970’s, after working in NYC for Public Television and documentary films. In 1980, she began making TV documentaries with her husband, cinematographer Bob Elfstrom. She is now making books and films based on her multiple, long-term, photographic series-in-time.
Since 1973, the subjects of Hilmer’s autobiographical, black and white portraits and self-portraits have been family and friends. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale, The Oakland Museum, Peter Palmquist’s Women In Photography International Archive at Beinecke Library, The Indie Photobook Library, and Getty Research Library. Recently, her "Birthday Suits" have been featured in Germany’s fotoMagazin and France’s 6Mois.
See one woman’s exuberant self-portraits from age 33 till 68 — her body changes while her smiling, impish spirit remains youthful and refreshingly engaged with life!
