Inspired by a Master: Diane Arbus

Twins by Diane Arbus

Babyrace by Diane Arbus

Tattooed man by Diane Arbus

Boy with grenade by Diane Arbus

Contact sheet by Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus is one of the photographers I feel I relate the most to(the other being Cartier-Bresson).  Arbus was a magazine assignment photographer that choose to use a square format over the traditional 35mm camera.  considered controversal in  both her subject and the way she depicted them.  I have often heard her work summed up in one word “Freaks”. Arbus was known for photographing alternative people, Twins & triplets, Tattooed people, Dwarfs and the mentally ill.  When I look through her work now the people she photographed don’t seem  to be the oddities of society  as much as they would have in the 50′s.  Seeing people with tattoos now is common place and people with alternative life styles have become much more main stream accepted.  The thing that has not changed is the way she choose to  show them to the world,  which is also why some people are not fans of her work, saying she turns her subjects in to freaks.   This point is probably the most clear in the two images directly above.

If you only see the final print of the kid boy holding the grenade  you would think the boy was insane  which is what I thought when I saw it.  Years later I saw the contact sheet and you can see that the boy is like any other normal  little boy  and just for that one frame Arbus caught something  totally different.   She really knows how to  show the world through Weather its showing you something  freaky or making the every day I little odd, Her photos will captivate  your imagination.

I try to take a similar approach to my work  I love to walk around and show the world  the way I see it as I assume  must photographers do.  I  want to show people the  ugly, freaky and common place parts of the world, but do it in a light that shows  people what beauty they are missing  when they are not looking.  Although it is not evident in the contact sheet above when I have looked at  her other released contact sheet  I feel I share the view that you try and capture a subject in as few frames as possible.  Other sheets I have seen, she would only take a few shots of each subject unless it appears to be ever changing like this little boy. The one negative aspect  about Arbus work is  print quality.  As great as the work is I belive this is the one element that holds the work back in a way  for me.

Last Week I said I would talk about editing:  Editing to me is just as important as shooting.  They seem like different rounds of editing to me in fact.

I go out with my camera and edit the world I see  down in to single shots.  Develope it and edit those 12 shots down in to just the usally 2-3 ( although my hope is always for 12 perfect ones)  that really capture the world I saw.  in Arbus’s example above I think she does an amazing job of editing, there are other shot on there where the boy has his hands on his hips that would also work as photographs but none would be as powerful as the one she choose.

Editing what you captured can often be the hardest part of photography because  you rely  on your own judgement of your self.  Is what I photographed really good or could it have been better?  What is really the best shot or is there even a best shot on the page?

When I Edit  after I get the contact sheets I go through  a number of times with different china markers.  First I go through and just look at every image with out marking any thing  I think it is really important to just look at every image and see what you have before deciding.  The 2 or third time though I have a red china marker  and circle every one that I know is a guaranteed winner, shots that I absolutely love.   The next round I  use a  different color usually yellow  and  go through and circle all the ones that are good but have something in them that stops it from being an amazing shot.    These ones might be  fillers  or transition shots  to carry you through a collection  to the high points.   In the 3 or 4 days following  I usually look at the sheets at least once or twice a day  and really getting a feel  for the images I choose and seeing what I like and don’t like about.

Last week  I posted an Image of central park  with the sun portioned right above a hill and it ended up drawing a huge response from  all of you and  going through my edit  that shot had been one of my yellow  selections.  Now that i see the response that it has received  it has made me reevaluate the way I look at the other images  i took of the park and see   what that shot has that people like  so much so I can make better choices in the future.

Below  you will find a  group of images I took of a little girl dancing on a musical park  element  and you can see how I edited down from the shots I took of her. Although I like all the shots I took of her As a series  but the larger one I think is the defiant pick.

Contact sheet of girl dancing Copyright 2009 Bryan Moore

The Joy of Dance Copyright 2009 Bryan Moore

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