Rachel Helfand (b. 1979, Los Angeles) is a photographer whose work investigates the relationship between the human body and the natural world, drawing on influences of nature, architecture, and memory. Through still life and narrative series, her practice explores themes of nostalgia, isolation, and place, often balancing intimacy with restraint. Her work reflects a sustained interest in how environments—both built and organic—shape emotional and physical experience.

Raised in a family of photographers, Helfand began working with analog photography in her father’s darkroom at an early age. This foundational experience continues to inform her material sensitivity and approach to image-making. Her practice is further shaped by an academic background in art history, which informs her compositional rigor and conceptual framework. She cites artists such as Francesca Woodman and Lee Miller as influences, as well as her grandfather, photographer Hugh Steffy.

Helfand studied, lived and worked in the London art world before moving to Paris as a newlywed. There she taught at the American University of Paris and served as a private guide at the Louvre. Immersion in these urban environments shaped her sense of style and design, while simultaneously deepening a longing for light, nature, and her Californian roots—a pull that continues to inform her work today.

Helfand received a BA in French language and literature from California Lutheran University and an MA in Art History from Richmond University in London in 2005.