Black and white squared
Diane Arbus was an American photographer, who, after a successful commercial career, took to the streets of New York in the 1950s with her camera, “documenting the city through its citizens”.
Mostly working in black and white, her characteristic square photo format centred her subjects with intriguing impact, candidly capturing people on the periphery of society.
“He was just so struck by them and how kind of eerie they were…”
Find out how one of Arbus’s portraits come to inspire two of Kubrick’s characters in residence at The Overlook hotel.
Read: The photograph that inspired the twins in ‘The Shining’ on Far Out Magazine.
___
A few years ago, Neil Baker led a small group workshop at London’s Hayward Gallery. The group wandered quietly through the Diane Arbus: In the Beginning exhibition and wrote in response to some simple prompts.
Read: Meet the Freaks: writing in response to the work of Diane Arbus by Neil Baker.
Creating
“I tend to think of the act of photographing, generally speaking, as adventure. My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.”
Take inspiration from the above quote. Go somewhere you’ve never been before, camera or iPhone in hand, and document your adventure in square format black and white.
We’d love to see what you come up with, if you’d like to share.
Photo by Arthur Chauvineau on Unsplash