The camera that he used to create his early pictures, a square-format twin-lens Rolleiflex, was adapted to his disposition at the time. He had to look down into the lens at waist level to see and photograph what was in front of him, and this enabled him to approach people unobtrusively. As the contact sheet with his famous picture of a chihuahua at a woman’s feet shows, the camera could also be set on the ground to capture a worm’s-eye view
“Photography is an art of observation,” the artist said best. “It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
“You may not even know that you have a good picture unless you take a look. Taking pictures is a response to what you see and what you think you see. And it’s very easy not to respond to the quality of the image you shot until you see it in a different circumstance.”
From iconic images of major world events, to intimate moments of pleasure and delight — here is an outstanding selection of remarkable images from Magnum Photos — each with a personal story
From iconic images of major world events, to intimate moments of pleasure and delight — here is an outstanding selection of remarkable images from Magnum Photos — each with a personal story.
Turning points in the lives and works of photographers often span the extremes—from global and national events to the most personal moments. Photographers such as Alec Soth and Zun Lee are able to not only bear witness to events that shape our collective history, but also to map more intimate transitions within their craft and their everyday lives.
Elliott Erwitt is one of the most prestigious photographers in the world. His unique collection “Personal Best for Leica by Elliott Erwitt” contains 50 iconic images that have stirred many people
The duty of a photojournalist, according to many, is to remain detached in a moment of crisis, to compartmentalize scenes of violence and war from the goings on of everyday life. As suggested by Italian journalist Mario Calabresi in his extraordinary book Eyes Wide Open, however, the best storytellers are those who allow themselves to be submerged within often painful events, to forgo absolute objectivity in favor of something rarer: a precarious marriage of impartiality and intimate involvement. In interviews with ten photographers who have not only documented but in many ways shaped the course of history—Steve McCurry, Josef Koudelka, Don McCullin, Elliott Erwitt, Paul Fusco, Alex Webb, Gabriele Basilico, Abbas, Paolo Pellegrin, and Sebastiao Salgado— Calabresi peels back the layers that lie behind iconic images to reveal the nuances of each frame and the living, breathing people who stood behind the lens.
As suggested by Italian journalist Mario Calabresi in his extraordinary book Eyes Wide Open, however, the best storytellers are those who allow themselves to be submerged within often painful events, to forgo absolute objectivity in favor of something rarer: a precarious marriage of impartiality and intimate involvement. In interviews with ten photographers who have not only documented but in many ways shaped the course of history—Steve McCurry, Josef Koudelka, Don McCullin, Elliott Erwitt, Paul Fusco, Alex Webb, Gabriele Basilico, Abbas, Paolo Pellegrin, and Sebastiao Salgado
Elliott Erwitt, USA. Santa Monica, California. 1955. Courtesy PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX. Elliott Erwitt, USA. New York City. 2000, Courtesy PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX. What is a life but a…
“Working as a freelance photographer has given me with kind of life that many people dream of — with extensive travels throughout the world, and to witness situations that are only available to my profession,” Elliott Ewritt tells Feature Shoot on the occasion of he publication of Personal Best, his magnum opus just published by teNeues, and self-titled exhibition at PDNB Gallery, Dallas, through November 10, 2018.
“I think if didn’t have the financial pressure, I would have done a lot better,” he said. “I would have made more movies. That’s easy to say now, but I probably would have spent more time doing worthy things.”
Elliott Erwitt has been taking pictures since the late forties. This exhibition is a unique and comprehensive survey of his work. Erwitt’s unmistakeable, often witty, style gives us a snapshot of the strange and the mundane over a period of more than half a century, through the lens of one of the era’s finest image-makers.
A lot has been said about Mr. Erwitt’s keen eye for the incongruous or absurd and his wry humor. His favorite interview question happened in Moscow when someone asked him — seriously — “Were you there when you took that picture?” His reply: probably.
On the occasion of the release of a new, huge collection of his color work, the Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt sat down with his photographer son to discuss Kodachrome film, Marilyn Monroe and coaxing horses into hotel rooms.
Yeah, it’s all film, a lot of the film had to be remastered, you might say, because they were quite old. Kodachrome lasted very well and was in very good condition and Ektachrome needed a lot of help because much of it had faded. Amazingly, with the techniques of today, a lot of the pictures that might have been lost have been remastered.
To commemorate Valentine’s Day in a unique and moving way, while still paying heed to our mission of presenting exceptional photography, LightBox turned to Erwitt’s sprawling archive for inspiration — and struck gold
Elliott Erwitt generally likes to let his pictures do the talking. “I’m very bad about talking about things,” he tells me with a smile, during a recent sit-down to look through his latest book, Sequentially Yours, published this month by teNeues.
The book playfully presents a series of unscripted vignettes that bear the personal hallmark and humor of his classic images and movies, but with an original twist— rather than single shots, the photos are shown as sequences.
This week in the magazine, Vince Aletti writes about the Elliott Erwitt retrospective that “sprawls through the International Center of Photography” through August 28th. “It includes some of the wittiest and most popular images ever published,” Aletti writes, but adds that “this show has as much substance as charm. Erwitt’s genius is to keep both in constant play.” Here’s a selection.
When asked by TIME to reflect on his favorite photographs in a post honoring his work, he initially pointed to a stack of his published books but paused.
“I hope that most of [my favorites] are not in any book and they haven’t been taken yet. But I realize that we can’t show pictures that haven’t been taken,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Magnum photographer and filmmaker Elliott Erwitt, 82, will receive the Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement from the International Center of Photography, which will exhibit his favorite pictures as “Personal Best,” beginning May 20. For the occasion, he agreed to let his son Misha Erwitt, a photographer himself, present him with a list of questions that family members have long wanted to ask.
