Observation
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
I recently bought the book “Earthlings” by Richard Kalvar. He’s a photographer represented by Magnum and the book is a collection of his humorous pictures of people in every day life. His work influences me in the same way as Elliot Erwitt’s. Both photographers make you laugh when you look at their pictures and humor has to be one of the more difficult things to convey in a photograph. I feel that they, like comedians, must be very witty and intellectually adept.
I often find my self being influenced by a number of different photography styles. It might even be fair to narrow that down to actual photographers. (The above picture and yesterday’s post are directly influenced by both Kalvar and Erwitt)
One week I could be on a real color kick, while the next I might be thinking more about composition. I also bounce back and forth between moment driven photographs and more subtle, subdued pictures. It can be frustrating in a sense to not know what kind of pictures define your vision.
At the same time though, it’s inspiring and hopeful to know that I maybe still haven’t found my voice or particular style yet. Maybe the searching is the fun part? Are we always searching? I think in a sense, yes, a photojournalist is always searching. Searching to capture those fleeting moments in life that too often go unrecorded.
