As a photographer and multimedia artist, Melissa Sorell is drawn to the interplay of light, texture, and form in the natural world. Her work captures fleeting moments—a sunset after a snowstorm, the way shadows shift across the landscape, or the hidden imagery that emerges in organic patterns. She finds inspiration in the psychological phenomenon called Pareidolia, where the mind perceives faces, figures, and landscapes within abstract shapes. This way of seeing influences her approach to photography, allowing her to discover unexpected compositions that reveal both the familiar and the surreal.

Melissa Sorell grew up in Manhattan with a family house in the Hudson Valley since she was 12 years old. Sorell’s landscape photography is deeply connected to place, emotion, memory, the culture of New York City, and the magic and nature of the county. Whether capturing the quiet aftermath of a winter storm or the golden glow of evening light, she seeks to create images that evoke a sense of wonder and contemplation. Her photograph Sunset After Storm reflects this vision—an intimate yet expansive moment frozen in time.
 

Beyond photography, she works in a variety of traditional and digital media, including watercolor, oil pastel, charcoal, and ink. Her recent focus has been on watercolor painting, where she explores light and form in a more fluid, expressive way. These paintings,
alongside her photographic work, are part of an ongoing exploration of how we perceive and interpret the world around us.

Sorell holds a BA in Liberal Arts with a focus on psychology and sociology from The New School University and has studied figure drawing at SUNY New Paltz and The Art Students League. Her work has been described as “gorgeous, surreal, supra-natural works that touch the infinite and unconscious realms.” – Moon Unit Zappa