She's an American photographer, born in New York. She is on view at the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art. She Became the first American photographer displayed at the Venice Biennalle. She grew up wealthy during the Great Deppression and attended Fieldston School for Ethical culture, then enrolled in classes taught by Berenice Abbot. She worked in the commercial photography business but quit. she committed suicide at 48 years old.
Abbot was famous for photographing the unusual. She photographed dwarfs, giants, transgender people, and circus performers. Her photographs were blatant sensetionalism. Her photographs did not become famous until a year after her suicide. She took a lot of photographs of things that weren't as seen at the time.
I think she's trying to show the beauty of the out of ordinary. She likes to show things that not very many people have seen. she's from New York, but was greatly sheltered from the effects of the Great Depression. Even though it was still around her. I believe this experience caused her to be able to see beauty in unusual things, and she wanted to share that with others. I also believe she felt a connection with the people she photographed because she was also a tortured soul.
She has inspired me about taking photos that aren't what society may think of as beautiful. There is beauty in everyone and everything, there are many different kinds of beautiful. A lot of the people may be seen as unusual, because they aren't the normal model, photoshopped to a impossible beauty standard, but that doesn't mean they aren't stunning. The modeling world is changing and so are peoples ideas of beauty, and I would like to contribute to the reason why.
Abbot was famous for photographing the unusual. She photographed dwarfs, giants, transgender people, and circus performers. Her photographs were blatant sensetionalism. Her photographs did not become famous until a year after her suicide. She took a lot of photographs of things that weren't as seen at the time.
I think she's trying to show the beauty of the out of ordinary. She likes to show things that not very many people have seen. she's from New York, but was greatly sheltered from the effects of the Great Depression. Even though it was still around her. I believe this experience caused her to be able to see beauty in unusual things, and she wanted to share that with others. I also believe she felt a connection with the people she photographed because she was also a tortured soul.
She has inspired me about taking photos that aren't what society may think of as beautiful. There is beauty in everyone and everything, there are many different kinds of beautiful. A lot of the people may be seen as unusual, because they aren't the normal model, photoshopped to a impossible beauty standard, but that doesn't mean they aren't stunning. The modeling world is changing and so are peoples ideas of beauty, and I would like to contribute to the reason why.
http://www.artnet.com/artists/diane-arbus/
https://www.biography.com/people/diane-arbus-9187461
https://www.biography.com/people/diane-arbus-9187461
In the first photo you can tell its taken by an older camera, the purpose of the photo was not trying to make the subject look attractive, it was the truth of a transgender woman of the time. Diane Arbus had the Better equipment and you can see in the corner she has a light, which I do not have. I used my mother because she is the one who looks most like the woman in the picture and I created a fake cigeratte because we don't have any real ones. The woman in the original photo looks very done with taking the photos, and so does my mother.
Female Impersonator Putting on Lipstick
Diane Arbus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97840029@N06/9102211370
Diane Arbus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97840029@N06/9102211370
This original photo is taken of a drag queen getting ready, seemingly in a dark hidden place because of the lighting and the type of light bulb, also the wall looks as if it may have spider webs. To capture this essence I went into my unfinished basement, which has the same type of lightbulb and look to it. My mirror is much smaller than the one used in the original photo. my model cameron didn't want to be totally shirtless and he was already letting me put makeup on him and lipstick, so I wanted to make sure he was comfortable and he wore a white tank top.
Blonde Girl with Shiny Lips
Diane Arbus http://medialapie09.blogspot.com/2012/02/daine-arbus-blonde-girl-with-shiny.html?m=1 |
For this photo I went into a dark room with a closet door,like the one in the original photo. My friend doesn't have the straight blond hair so we bobby pinned it and wet it, to make it look more like the picture. I used a brow mascara to give her eyebrows a similar look, and applied a heavy amount of highlighter to her lips to make them look shiny. They both have a sort of "dead inside" look in their eyes. You can't see a shirt of either of them (even though Georgia is wearing one). The background in the original is darker.
Personal Artist Statement
My images tell the story of the hidden lives of people in earlier times. You may judge on for smoking, you might judge cameron for applying makeup, you may judge Georgia for her quantity of makeup. The message is that you shouldn't judge, these photos all seem private and personal, like your in their lives seeing what they don't show others. These photos are like a secret. You shouldn't judge the secrets these people confide in you.