Week 15: Portrait photography by Eve Arnonld

Monday, October 27, 2014 Ching Lea Yee 0 Comments

I chose this famous photographer as a reference for my photography project 3 as I like how she composed her subject in her photographs. It is a constant reminder for me how the expression of the face, the body language can set apart a bad and a good portrait photography.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1912, Eve Arnold was the first American woman to become a member of the photographic co-operative Magnum. One of the most important photojournalists of the twentieth century, Eve Arnold had a prolific career documenting people both ordinary and famous – including Marilyn Monroe, Yves Saint Laurent, Malcolm X, Jerry Falwell and many heads of state. She covered the American civil rights movement, shot stills for more than 40 films around the world, was a contract photographer on the Sunday Times colour magazine for 10 years and published 14 books.

Arnold once said 'What I have tried to do is involve the people I was photographing... if they were willing to give, I was willing to photograph,' 

For example Eve Arnold's photographs on Marilyn Monroe capture her real beauty. They show her taking off her make-up and her glamorous shell, looking a little tired and fragile but far more beautiful than any of her showbusiness publicity shots. I hope I can capture my subjects in the same way in their most rawest form to portray the simple characteristics of the people in vanishing trades. A simple life but an not so usual trade.