Photo Essay
As
my photographer influence, I have chosen Yousuf Karsh, a very well
known portrait photographer from the 1930s to 2000s. He was most
known for his portrait work or many famous people and I would say has
influenced photographic work to this day. His use of black and white
photography seems to evoke a sense of “seeing the soul' of the
subject. I admire his work quite a bit and know my imitations do him
little justice as the depth of the shadows in his images are
astounding and the emotions he seems to evoke in his subjects faces
are beautiful. My attempt to honor his work through mine, does his no
justice but emulates his ideas.
One
way I tried to capture emotion from my subjects was to talk to them,
get them to tell a story of something interesting that had happened
or to think about someone they cared about. In some cases it was more
successful than others. One thing I found interesting about Karsh,
was how he described that pert of the photographer's job. In one of
his books, of which several were published, he once said "Within
every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is
my task to reveal it if I can.” (Karsh, 1967) One of the reasons I
find his work so influential and beautiful was how his work with
celebrities and political figures created images that made them so
emotionally accessible to the layman. They appear as almost kindred
spirits, with their own vulnerabilities and beauty. Which he once
described aptly; “A lifting of the mask that all humans wear to
conceal their innermost selves from the world. In that fleeting
interval of opportunity the photographer must act or lose his prize."
(Karsh, 1967). While a portrait can be technically beautiful, in my
opinion, the subject needs to show an emotion, to truly create a
beautiful piece of art.
In
my images, I used a light source to the side and slightly in front,
as he did. Trying to inexpertly imitate the idea of a studio. While I
wish I could have used film, my iPhone was my only camera at my
disposal. Because of this, I could not capture the sharpness of
Karsh's photos. While I wish I had a studio to properly burn and
dodge my photos properly, I used editing software to make the images
black and white and alter the contrast. As well as some minute
burning and dodging for certain features. I feel that I got some
emotion from my subjects to emulate the art or Karsh but when I saw
the size of negative he used it was clear I could not capture the
light digitally the way he could in film.
One
of his most well known portraits is his photograph of Winston
Churchill in 1941. He spoke of his encounter with the man as a rather
intimidating encounter. “My portrait of Winston Churchill changed
my life. I knew after I had taken it that it was an important
picture, but I could hardly have dreamed that it would become one of
the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography.”
(Karsh, 1967) It's amazing to go through his work and see the faces
of history in his art telling such a story from the 1930s to almost
the present. As he died only recently in 2008. Leaving an amazing
photographic mark on the world.
My Photos
 |
| Self Portrait |
Photos by Yousuf Karsh
 |
| Albert Einstein, 1948 |
 |
| Nelson Mandela, 1990 |
 |
| Winston Churchill, 1941 |
 |
| Ernest Hemingway, 1957 |
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| Audrey Hepburn, 1956 |
 | ||
| Yousuf Karsh, Self Portrait with Negative |
Works
Cited
Karsh,
Y. (1967). Karsh
portfolio.
London: Nelson.
Yousuf
Karsh / Photographer. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2014, from
http://karsh.org/#/the_man
/biography
/biography
