Goodbye, Elliott ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was fifteen years old, I borrowed a book from our school library .. and never gave it back! The book was 'Photographs and Anti-photographs', by a photographer called Elliott Erwitt, and he became the first major influence in my blossoming life as a photographer. The humour in his work was something I'd never considered before, and I've loved his work from that day to this. I couldn't believe it when, in 2006, I actually got to meet him in the flesh. He was giving a talk in Bradford, at what used to be known as the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, and I should have actually still been in Seattle on the day, but cut short my trip to fly back and listen to it. Imagine my delight when, arriving at the museum, Elliott pulled up in a taxi at almost the same moment and shook my hand. "Where do I go?" he asked, thinking I was a member of staff waiting to greet him. "Ah no," I stuttered, "I'm just a fan. In fact, could you sign this, please?" I handed him my copy of his book and he broke into a smile as he took it. "Oh my," he said. "I haven't seen this for a while." He signed a page, posed for our 'selfie' and went off to give his talk ..

Today, he died, after ninety-five years on the planet. A 'good innings', as they say, and I like to think he called it a day with that wry smile still upon his face. So goodbye, Elliott, and thank you. It's true to say you steered the whole direction of my photography ..

I just hope my school doesn't want the book back ..

Happy Birthday, Elliott ..

Happy 91st birthday to one of my heroes .. the great photographer Elliott Erwitt, definitely one of my earliest photographic influences, particularly for his use of humour in his work. I hadn't realised as a kid that photography could be amusing!! The shot I'm showing you today highlights that beautifully. Photographing these army cadets circa 1975 I asked one of the boys to stick out his tongue as he marched past - a straight copy of Elliott's shot of marching soldiers that features in one of his books ..

Now, please don't tell anybody, but I stole that book from our school library when I was about 15. (The guilt haunts me still!) Years later I was lucky enough to meet Elliott and I got him to sign it. "Man," he said, "I've not seen one of these for a long time" .. 

Illogical, Captain ..

Look, I swear - I promise you - that, yesterday, I thought I'd finished with the Space coincidences! I was all ready to move on and discuss, oh - I don't know - the finer points of wireless trigger photography or when it's advisable to put your camera on Auto ISO - when what happens? Bloody Spock dies! Off he's gone, phasers on stun in the great Transporter Room in the sky and all I can say is RIP Leonard! Thing is - and I swear this is true - yesterday I'd pulled this shot out of my seemingly never-ending box of old archive shots. It's me in my bedroom with some of my favourite things - circa early 80s. A nice Nikon FM, my fave Elliott Erwitt book 'Photographs and anti-photographs' .. and a Star Trek poster for the original motion picture! Look! There's Spock, looking straight over my shoulder! What are the chances of that happening? It's totally illogical, Captain.
Beam me up ..

Barking mad ..

National Dog Day, is it? Well, that's appropriate because already today I've stood in a pile of dog poo .. and had to mop up a puddle of dog wee in our kitchen .. and had to photoshop a family portrait with a dog that was .. er, rather visibly excited to be in the picture .. if you get my drift!
Ahem, ahem ..

When it comes to dog photography I bow, of course, to the great Elliott Erwitt, who I had the pleasure of meeting about six or so years back. Although obviously not on his scale, I do have a few dog shots in my archive. I still feel sorry for this poor old pooch, with his oh so youthful 'minder'. A plaster on his tail and all his bones on show tell you all you need to know about his hard life.

It's true what they say about not working with children and animals, though! I did another family portrait on Saturday, with a family of nine in their back garden. Ninety two shots, I took and, guess what, there isn't one that has all the kids' eyes open! Not one! Barking mad, I am ..     

Marching on ..

The first of March, and time for - drum roll - the third installment of Twelve for '13, my year-long display of archive photographs. This month's offerings flit from CB fans to chip shops, abandoned cars to my sister's bedroom! (Behave!) Hey, there's even a colour shot this time - one from my meagre collection of colour slides from the time (Well, they were expensive!) I'm intrigued by my Blog Shot today, though. It was taken at Eccles army cadets, so it's no later than about May of 1976, when I was still 15 years old, and I'm assuming it's a tribute to - or possible complete rip-off of -  an Elliott Erwitt photograph, which I first saw in his book 'Photographs and Anti-photographs' in 1974. (To my shame - I'm blushing - I stole this book from our school library and, years later, actually got it signed by the great man himself! So you're not having it back, St Pat's!) Anyway, if you ever see the shot I'm talking about, you'll see a black GI sticking his tongue out at Mr Erwitt's camera, just like the kid's doing in my shot, though whether I asked him to do it because I'd seen Elliott's shot, or simply caught it as he did it, I will never know! I know we're all influenced by others, and I know humour is a very important part of my photography, so all I can say is I'm glad I discoverd Erwitt at 14 and not Bill Brandt! Anyway, crack on and go see my latest set of archive shots. Quick march...

Is it real, or is it....?

A photograph of Elliott Erwitt - my hero! - appeared on my Facebook page this morning. He was showing off a T shirt that said "Warning! Digital manipulation kills photography" Hmmm, discuss!

Well, I suppose it depends on what you mean by "manipulation" doesn't it?
I mean, I 'manipulate' my photographs on the computer. I dodge, burn, spot, crop, sharpen .. but it's nothing that I didn't do in the darkroom of old. If that were the case you could argue that using Ilford Multigrade filters was tantamount to 'manipulation'. Oooh, boosting the contrast are you? Damn it, don't you realise you're killing photography? So, in my book, manipulation means using all the crappy 'effects' that are offered in Photoshop. Turning someone green, with horns, and making them float above the moon in a tutu .. now that's manipulation! But 'killing photography'? Nah, it's just created another branch of ART. It's just another way of giving people an outlet for their latent creativity. I might not like it but, hey, I can't stand Adele and look how popular she is, so what do I know? If anything I think that kind of photography - let's called it photo-art, or phart, for short - just gives all the more meaning to my kind of photography. Real! Accurate! Trustworthy!...

Elliot Erwitt is killing T shirt design!

©Martin O'Neill 2012