Diane Arbus was known for her square format photographs of marginalized individuals in society. She studied under Berenice Abbott and Lisette Model, who taught her that being more specific allows photographs to have more general meaning. Some of her techniques included going to new places, using her camera as a license to enter others' lives while realizing she could never fully understand their perspective, focusing on textures to add meaning, and taking bad photos. She advised gaining subjects' trust by talking to them and getting to know them personally. For Arbus, the subjects were more important than the photographs themselves. Many of her photos have underlying meanings not immediately apparent upon first viewing.

1. A L P A Y D E D E Z A D E , L U C Y L E L I E V R E &
V A N E S S A S I L V A
Diane Arbus

2. Influences
 Studied under Berenice Abbott & Lisette Model
“It was my teacher Lisette Model, who finally made it clear to me
that the more specific you are, the more general it‟ll be.”

3. What is she known for?

Known for her square format
photographs
of marginalised individuals in society.
“You see someone on the street and
essentially what you notice about them is
their flaw”

4. Methods, techniques & teachings
1. Go places you have never been
2. Camera is a license to enter the lives of
others
3. Realize you can never understand the
world from your subjects eyes
4. Create specific photographs

5. Methods, techniques & teachings
 Adore your subjects – should have an
affinity for those they are photographing
– i.e. “freaks”
 Gain inspiration from reading
 Utilizing textures to add meaning – e.g.
focal lengths, different
apertures, lighting etc
 Take bad photos!

6. Methods, techniques & teachings
1.Sometimes your best photos aren‟t immediately apparent (to you)
2.Don‟t arrange others, arrange yourself – Most interesting photos are
generally ones that aren‟t posed
3.Get over the fear of photography by getting to know your subjects - by
talking with the subjects it allows the photographer to overcome the
fear with taking personal shots and feel more comfortable
4.Subjects are more important than the pictures – She considered the
people to be more important than the photograph itself, as humans are
three-dimensional and evoked a more „holy feeling‟ in her

7. A Photograph‟s Meaning
Many of her photographs appear to be straight forward on the surface but as we
look and begin to read it, underlying meanings are brought to the surface. For
example Identical Twins (1967) this photograph that we have already seen in the
reading „The Photograph‟.

8. Photographer within the photograph
An example of this is „A Family on Their Law One Sunday in Westchester‟ (1969).
Arbus was in a state of depression at the time this photograph was taken which
comes through in the photograph.

9. Examples
 Russian midget
friends in a
living room on
100th
St., N.Y.C.
(1963)

10. Examples
 Teenage Couple on
Hudson
Street, N.Y.C., (1963)