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 nine million visitors.
[1][2][3][4][5] Hammid had a long professional career taking "candid portraits" of children and families for private clients as well as contributing to a number of book projects.
[15] In fall 1940, she attended Black Mountain College for one semester as student, according to Buncombe County, North Carolina immigration records.
Heyman married director and cinematographer Alexander Hammid (Alexandr Hackenschmied) in 1949 after his divorce in 1948 from Maya Deren (Eleanora Derenkowsky).
[19] After their marriage, Hella and Alexander Hammid moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan and had two children, Julia (1950) and gem photographer Tino (1952–2015).