The Eye's Mind: 02/14/11

Harry Callahan

Oct 22, 1912 - Mar 15, 999
Born in Detroit
self-taught photographer (1938 began)
Nothing is said about his education in photo other than that he is self-taught; however he established the photography program at RISD (1961-1977).
He went to MSU for engineering for three semesters.

he is known as a photographer who helped in bringing photography in to the mainstream of the art world
he worked in color and in black and white
he is known mostly for his photographs of his wife, Eleanor, as she is the subject of the majority of his photos; his photography was a deep reflection of his personal life.
his photograph titled Eleanor (1951) is yet another image where his wife is the subject.

cannot find a review on this specific photo, but he is said to be of the most innovative of photographers of his time, as he worked successfully in both black and white and color.
He received the National Medal of Arts in 1996
http://evolvingcritic.com/2010/02/14/harry-callahan-american-photographer/
says that the exhibitions of his photos remind us of how small we are to our surroundings.
"Callahan also once said that if one chooses one’s subject selectively, the camera intuitively writes the poetry"

Eleanor is in the center of the frame in a doorway? Surrounding her is a mess of branches/trees
high contrast between Eleanor and the doorway and the branches surrounding her. Lighting is intense on her then gets less intense around in the branch area

I couldn't find any information on the actual concept of this image, but i know he photographer her a lot and reflected his life through the images, and this photograph seems more eerie and unstable in a sense. She seems as though she is about to jump in to these branches and it looks somewhat dangerous.

this is definitely a double exposure, the image of her is on top of the image of the branches. It is very interesting how much smaller she is than the branches, which are probably not very big in actuality

I am not sure what the motivation was other than that he reflected his feelings through his photography and he used his wife as the subject a lot. Maybe the intention was to show her feelings at the time, since she looks as though she may jump out of that doorway/window area.

This work is very eerie/creepy. It makes me wonder what Eleanor is going to do right after he took the photo. Does she jump?!
I enjoy that he makes images that reflect his life, as this is something that I tend to have trouble with doing.

The Eye's Mind