Asia Steel Designs

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