Helen Levitt
photographer of New York, died on March 29th, aged 95
It's my bad to delay this assignment post until today, around 1 week later than it should be. I am currently joining a course of "Vietnam in transition" that is totally far from what I was supposed to study for my major of Finance and Banking. The requirement of week zero was that reading an obituary in the Economist Magazine and wrote some response to it. Actually I read a lot of the obituaries there. People are from all kinds of occupations, such as politicians, journalists and adventurers. I had to choose someone that led a life that was kind of amazing in some aspects to be a model for the others. However, actually I didn't find any one that inspire me enough to write about them. After all I chose this photographer, Helen Levitt basically because I love photography and the humanity I see in all her work fits my soul perfectly, as well as her humbleness.
Reading her obituary, I found out how much I can relate to this woman.
I love the way she shot. Earlier most of her photos are in black and white. Later in the 1960s she chose to work with color.
Though those colored work were pretty amazing too, but I still find her original black and white ones much more influential and inspirational. They are simple in the presence of color of the picture itself but so much more in the meaning they bring to people's mind.
Second, what inspires me most is her theme. She was the Street photographer of New York since the 1940s. The lives of NY people, especially the kids, were reflected greatly in her work. I love her pictures of kids, particularly she even took pictures of the chalk drawing on streets of the kids.
Utmost beauty lies in simplicity, I think.
What's so interesting is she did not name her photos much. Basically they are just NY of year something. They did not need explaining; they were “just what you see”. Words ain't enough to express all the underlying ideas that one might come up with when they saw a picture. Feelings are things that matter and how beautiful a picture is to a person is different from one to another. It might look fun and smiles are full in there but it also could reflect something that is very much like sad.
She led a lonely life with no kids and husband. The only one that come along with her all her years in life is finally just her pictures. But this woman never had high opinion about her work. She reluctantly accepted only some very few of the pictures that she took to be nice. Though her original prints eventually sold for tens of thousands of dollars, she let them pile up in her apartment in boxes labelled “Nothing good” or “Here and there”. Her hopes when she started were for photographs that would make a socialist statement of some sort.
Overall, she was a humble photographer that spoke so many things through her work about humble people of one of the most hectic cities in the world. Photography reflects reality in a so unique way and Helen chose it for her career path during 70 years of her life.
Reading her obituary, I found out how much I can relate to this woman.
I love the way she shot. Earlier most of her photos are in black and white. Later in the 1960s she chose to work with color.
Though those colored work were pretty amazing too, but I still find her original black and white ones much more influential and inspirational. They are simple in the presence of color of the picture itself but so much more in the meaning they bring to people's mind.
Second, what inspires me most is her theme. She was the Street photographer of New York since the 1940s. The lives of NY people, especially the kids, were reflected greatly in her work. I love her pictures of kids, particularly she even took pictures of the chalk drawing on streets of the kids.
Utmost beauty lies in simplicity, I think.What's so interesting is she did not name her photos much. Basically they are just NY of year something. They did not need explaining; they were “just what you see”. Words ain't enough to express all the underlying ideas that one might come up with when they saw a picture. Feelings are things that matter and how beautiful a picture is to a person is different from one to another. It might look fun and smiles are full in there but it also could reflect something that is very much like sad.
She led a lonely life with no kids and husband. The only one that come along with her all her years in life is finally just her pictures. But this woman never had high opinion about her work. She reluctantly accepted only some very few of the pictures that she took to be nice. Though her original prints eventually sold for tens of thousands of dollars, she let them pile up in her apartment in boxes labelled “Nothing good” or “Here and there”. Her hopes when she started were for photographs that would make a socialist statement of some sort.
Overall, she was a humble photographer that spoke so many things through her work about humble people of one of the most hectic cities in the world. Photography reflects reality in a so unique way and Helen chose it for her career path during 70 years of her life.
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