Influencers on My Social Context Photography Style
There have been many photographers who have influenced my style and approach to social context photography. Some are famous and some are lesser known. Two of the better known ones are Diane Arbus and Robert Frank.
Diane Arbus, a New York-based photographer who captured unique characters in the 1960s in urban settings, always intrigued me. In a recent portfolio and commentary in New Yorker magazine,
Full Exposure by Claudia Roth Pierpoint, New Yorker Online May 23, 2016, there are a number of her most well-known images presented.
An example of an Arbus image that transcends the superficial and invites a deeper interpretation is the one of the left of identical twins. In a lot of situations, Arbus needed to be involved more in the human subject, “She needed to get closer, physically and emotionally. So she asked permission, got to know people, listened to their stories; some relationships went on for years. The distinctive power of her classic photographs is in this deep engagement, in her subjects’ frank exposure and our implied complicity.” Arbus also commented “there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them.”
Identical Twins, Roselle, NY, 1967
Another photographer who greatly influenced me was Robert Frank. His book of photographs entitled The Americans was published in the US in 1959. It showed images of ordinary Americans going about their lives but exhibited deeper meanings such as indicating individual loneliness and class separation. Most of his images in the book used existing light which creates a different perspective on the individuals and surroundings. This was an unusual approach and contrary at the time to the way typical photographs at the time exhibited.
I purchased the book in the 1980s when there was a renewed interest in Frank’s photography because of exhibits at major galleries in New York. The two images that have never left my memory and ones that continually influence me greatly are: Rodeo, New York, 1954 and Drug Store, Detroit, 1955.
Since we are so culturally influenced, when I viewed this image, I immediately thought of the rural cowboy coming to the big city to make it big as played by Jon Voight in the film Midnight Cowboy, 1969. The image by Frank, made in 1954 foreshadowed the Joe Buck character—rural hayseed meets urban frontier.
Rodeo, New York, 1954
The other image that has stayed with me to this day is entitled Drug Store, Detroit, 1955 in which activity at a particular moment is captured at a lunch counter. The scene is busy and cluttered with white working-class customers being served by black workers. It is stylistic and causes a viewer to think deeply about the social interactions happening.
Drug Store, Detroit, 1955
As I indicated, there have been many photographers who have influenced my style and approach , both the established ones and the emerging practitioners, to social context photography. In future blogs I will share others who have and do influence me.
