Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus 1923-1971

An American photographer and writer noted for square black & white photographs of people that some may think of as surreal or ugly such as dwarfs, giants, circus performers and nudists. She believed that the camera could be cold andharsh but it's scrutiny of the subject revealed the truth, which was the difference between what people wanted others to see and what they really did see, as in the flaws. She started in commercial photograph for fashion magazines such asVogue and Harper's Bizarre, before apparently becoming loathsome of the fashion world  and turning her back on it in 1956. In 1962 she started using a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera which produced the more detailed images in a square format which became her style of note. Diane eventually took her own life in 1971 following on from bouts of depression. 
Her photographs could be considered to be of 2 different types, firstly a unsympathetic look at the lives of ordinary people in and around her native New York and secondly a more sympathetic view of those people living on the margins of what society deems acceptable. 
I have chosen a few of examples of her work to demonstrate her use of a shallow depth of field used to good effect to make sure the viewers attention is drawn to the subject matter by softening up any distractions that may be occurring in the background.



I'll now take this opportunity to hold my hands up here and admit that although I have become a  great admirer of an abundance of photographic images over the years, I feel my ignorance has prevented me from absorbing some of the finer details of the people responsible. So, now that we've cleared that up, I'll get back to Diane and if I had to choose a particular favourite from her work then I would go with the one below as I love the slight essence of creepiness that accompanies the photograph whilst at the same time managing to raise a smile and make me ponder over what it is they were up to, what they had done , or where they were going.....not that it truly matters now as it's probably too late to prosecute