Hella Hammid


Hella Hammid was a German-American photographer whose career included teaching at UCLA. Her freelance photographs appeared in diverse publications including Life, Ebony, The Sun and The New York Times. Her softly backlit picture of two young Italian girls dancing, watched by other children in front of the abutments of a stone building, was chosen by Edward Steichen for his 1955 world-touring MoMA exhibition The Family of Man, which was seen by 9 million visitors.
Hammid was also a remote viewer who worked with Russell Targ and Harold E. Puthoff at SRI International doing work for the CIA.
She also worked with Stephan A. Schwartz on The Alexandria Project, considered to be psychic archaeology.
Hammid participated in the first Gateway Voyage program offered by Robert Monroe, founder of The Monroe Institute, that was held at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur in 1973.

Early life and education

Hammid was born Hella Hilde Heyman on 15 July 1921 in Frankfurt, Germany. She immigrated to the United States on 14 September 1937, moved from New York City to Los Angeles. In 1939 she filed a declaration of intention with the Southern District Of California. In fall 1940, she began attending Black Mountain College as student, according to Buncombe County, North Carolina immigration records.
Heyman married director and cinematographer Alexander Hammid after his divorce in 1948 from Maya Deren. The three worked together on Deren's films At Land, Ritual in Transfigured Time and . In her early work as a cinematographer and actress, Heyman is sometimes also credited as Hella Hamon.
After their marriage, Hella and Alexander Hammid moved to Upper Manhattan and had two children, Julia and gem photographer Tino.