1. CESCA HAIG
Unit 57: Photography and Photographic
Practice
Research of other photographers work

2. Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus was born on March 14, 1923 in New York
City. She was an American photographer, famous for her
black and white portraits of deviant and marginal people
(dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists, circus
performers). She married Allan Arbus at the age of
eighteen, the two were both interested in photography and
in 1946 they started up a commercial photography
business called "Diane & Allan Arbus," with Diane as art
director and Allan as the photographer. They contributed
to Glamour, Seventeen, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and
other magazines even though "they both hated the
fashion world."
In 1956 Arbus quit the commercial photography business.
Although she had previously studied photography
with Berenice Abbott, her studies with Lisette Model in
1956 led to Arbus's most well-known methods and style.

4. This photograph, took in 1967 is of two twin girls. They are both dressed the
same against a plain background, meaning they are the only subject in the
image. The girls are both looking directly into the camera, this is effective
because it makes the viewer really look at them, they start to see that although
at first glance they are identical, if you look a little more closely you start to
notice differences.

5. With a lot of Arbus’ photography the subjects are looking directly into the
camera and are lit by direct flash or other frontal lighting.

6. I think the way that Diane Arbus photographs people looking directly in to the
camera is very effective because it makes the viewer want to know more about the
subject, you can see more about the person by looking at their facial expressions
than when looking at where they are, what they're doing or what they're wearing. I
also think that her use of black and white is effective for the same reason, you aren’t
distracted by anything in the background as all the colours are blended in and don’t
stand out, instead you are just looking at the person in the image which was Arbus’
intention.
I’m not sure that I like all of Arbus’ work, although I do think she had a very good
way of getting people to look at the people she photographed in a different light then
they usually would if they passed them on the streets.