Diane Arbus: Photographer and Image

Diane Arbus, American photographer, born in 1923 in New York, died tragically in 1971. Together with her husband, she was a fashion photographer for famous newspapers, but over time, after breaking up with her husband, she became interested in documentary photography. Her works dealt with controversial topics, such as portraing prostitutes, freaks, midgets, and people rejected by society. Diane Arbus work continues to inspire and influence the world of photography.(Britannica, 2024) Jean-Baptiste Gauvin in his article "Diane Arbus's freak carnival" describes her portraits as follows: "Her famous portrait of freaks, sideshow folks, carnies, and outsiders of all sorts, are in fact a chose examination of the human species. She sets a stage on which bodies and souls of social outcasts are laid bare and taken part." (Gauvin, 2019)

                         Female impersonator holding long gloves, Hempstead, L.I. 1959, Diane Arbus

For my research, I chose a photo titled Female impersonator holding long gloves, taken in 1959.

Rule of Thirds. The object in the photo is moved to the left, and the face is centrally located in the upper left corner, at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines. In terms of the Rule of Thirds, this is a perfect photo.The camera in this photo is at eye level. The photo is black and white, very grainy, normal contrast. In my opinion, there is neither high-key nor low-key in this photo.

It is a black and white photo, taken with artificial light from a side lamp, and Arbus used a flash. This is how Gauvin describes it: ,,Armed with a flash, her gesture are swift, her portraits snapped in mid-action, plucked from the flow of the world."(Gauvin, 2019) 

My project was also made in black and white and had a lot of grain, just like Diane Arbus photo. I took some photos at eye level, but there were also photos with a high angle camera. The photos from my project were taken with studio lighting and high key. In my project, when I took photos at eye level, the object was usually shifted to the right and the face was at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines. However, photos from my project taken from a high angle mainly involve shifting the object to the left side in the Rule of Thirds.

References list:

Gauvin, J. (2019). Diane Arbus’s freak carnival. [online] Blind Magazine. Available at: https://www.blind-magazine.com/en/news/diane-arbuss-freak-carnival/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2024].

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2019). Diane Arbus | American photographer. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diane-Arbus [Accessed 20 Apr. 2024].