The Attentive Eye of Elliot Erwitt
The key to being a great photographer is to be able to see what no one else can. One must capture those poignant moments in life that speak for themselves and that carry multiple meanings, layered on top of one another. It is surely a great feat to be able to take pictures and turn them into an art form. It takes a unique eye accompanied by an imaginative mind to create a photographic vision that tells a worthy story. Elliot Erwitt made a living photographing commercial shots ranging from magazine covers and advertising still lifes, to travel ads, but it is his personal ‘snaps’ (as he likes to call them) that display his worldly wit and passion for the quirks of life. Erwitt’s versatility is displayed not in the grand, majestic images that are so often seen in the media, but in his subtlety and in his ability to freeze time in that exact moment when nothing appears to be happening, yet so much is. And it is within these fleeting moments that Erwitt tells his story whether it be social, comical, whimsical or just plain beautiful. His wide array of subjects shows us that this is a man who sees the world through the eyes of his camera and who is not afraid to blink. Elliot Erwitt was fittingly born in the city of art, Paris . . .
Or so we can assume, which is where the photograph becomes amusing: in the assumption. Once Erwitt has your initial attention, he then lets his subjects do the rest of the talking. The composition of this photograph depends largely on pattern. Besides the obvious message of gender and sex that this picture conveys, Erwitt has also captured a candid moment that emphasizes our love and fascination with art. On page 488-89 in Snaps, there is a picture taken in 1998 in Cambodia, of two Cambodian boys playing in the water. From a political point of view, the black cloud can be said to represent the years of brutal dictator ship imposed over the Cambodian people by the oppressive regime of the Khmer Rouge. The picture is dominated by the gray of the ocean which crisply breaks at the horizon into the clear white sky. It certainly does not hurt that this man has been already the world, several times over and has captured life’s raw and honest moments in many different cultures. Both sides of the picture are equally as poignant and the work together to provoke the same emotions upon viewing of the photograph. Erwitt has a keen ability to pick out these moments and to snap at just the right time. This photograph is paradoxical in that it simultaneously conveys a threatening mood alongside a playful one. One of the boys is holding on to a fair-sized wooden boat, while an extremely dark, menacing cloud looms over their heads. In our everyday lives, our eyes probably witness hundreds of great potential photographs each day, however the moment is too small or too rapid to even notice. He senses a new age dawning upon him and he feels so helpless that all he can do is sit down and reflect.
Common topics in this essay:
Prado Madrid, Elliot Erwitt, Cambodia Cambodian, Speakers Corner, Khmer Rouge, Robert Capa, , Elliot Erwitts, Speed Graphic, Milan Hollywood, elliot erwitt, moments life, captured candid moment, lone woman, life erwitts, candid moment, sort social, painting left, nude painting, personal snaps, initial attention, erwitt captured candid, |
Acceptance Essays
