6 Time Winner of Madison Magazine’s Best Photographer

Formal-ish Bio:

Ilana Natasha Bar-av is an award-winning photographer working in Madison with a studio on the near-east side of Madison. She began taking photos professionally in 2008, and currently focuses on portraits, documentary weddings, photojournalism, and commercial photography. She is fascinated by people — why we are the way we are — and photography allows her to explore that. Follow her photojournalism and commercial work on Instagram here, and her wedding, portraits, and events work here.

Some more tid bits:

My parents named me ilana which sounds a whole lot like ee-LAHN-ah.

I’m a Madison based wedding photographer,  but I love traveling almost as much as I love meandering around my backyard on a Sunday afternoon. Travel is included for any wedding based in the lower 48. If you’re in Hawai’i, Alaska, or elsewhere, we can work something out.

My dad was a photographer and my oldest brother is a photographer based out of Baltimore. They both tried to talk me out of shooting weddings because they thought it would be too stressful…

…They were wrong. This is my 11th full-time year as a photographer specializing in photojournalism, which includes documenting weddings and I have the best job I could ask for. I love it. That’s something I’ll never take for granted.

I’m both indigenous and a first generation American. I’m queer. I studied music in college and was also inducted into my school’s athletic hall of fame. To sum me up: I’m a melting pot. I think both my family and personal histories have contributed to my intense curiosity of others and the world we live in.