Influences

In the past year, I have been visiting the local library every few weeks with my muse. I have found some interesting art books as well as novels that were hard to put down. I came across a book called "Hubert's Freaks" by Gregory Gibson and was blown away by the story that I read about this Book Dealer who had come across a collection of Diane Arbus photographs.

While in the midst of cleaning up an area in preparation of my new studio, I came across this image below that I had taken during my first photography class a few years ago. I recall only seeing a few images at the time of Arbus' work during the photography class. I did not realize how much her work at the time had influenced how I first approached photography. The image below is of my mom, my younger sister and myself. I remember asking them to relax and just look at the camera without forcing any emotions or smiles. This scanned image is of a poorly printed mistake, but the image itself is very powerful and much influenced by the work that I saw of Diane Arbus back in that first photography class.

In the book, there was a quote that helped Diane Arbus find her niche in photography... "It was my teacher, Lisette Model, who finally made is clear to me that the more specific you are, the more general it'll be." (page 21 Hubert's Freaks by Gregory Gibson)

That lesson was repeated to me several times throughout my art classes and is something that I still am learning to use in my selections of ideas to photograph and to produce.....

~Peace~
Kym