Esther Bubley

Esther Bubley 1943 - 1998 

Esther was from Wisconsin in the American mid west and had developed a passion for the photojournalist and documentary styles of photography after being inspired by images she'd seen of The Great Depression produced by the Farm Security Administration, but she was also an admirer of Life magazine . Amongst her works of choice that I admire are her shots taken in the Greyhound Bus Terminal  and a photo essay on mental illness for the Ladies Home Journal , not that I'm a regular subscriber or anything. it's just that it happens to be good . The thing I was first drawn to in her photographs was her ability to tell a story (or enable the viewer to invent one.... I do it all the time), this also goes someway to explain why she was good at her job, but most of all they are powerful images, perhaps even slightly off centre at times, but mostly always evocative....and if mostly evocative is an oxymoron then I apologise whole heartily. Take for example the image below where we see a mother and her two young children with the mother wearing a weary face that could either suggest she's been there a long time awaiting someones arrival, perhaps that of her husband, or she could even be executing her escape plan to a better life away from the one she is leaving behind, make up your own mind. Then we have the children, with the youngest being oblivious to her surroundings and sleeping deeply enough in the land of Nod to be able to subconsciously rely on her mother's grip  ( this is purely a parental observation of note) whilst her sister looks skyward, lost in a moment of heavenly distraction perhaps from the beam of light emanating from the ceiling and illuminating the lady on the left who we don't really care about as we presume her to be better off.  The bottom line here is that the shallow depth of field focuses all the attention on the lady and her children despite the apparent out of focus busyness that's going on behind her.....I'm still curious about that other lady though.

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Next is an image from the Ladies Home Journal photo essay on mental health.....no waffling necessary 

                    

My final image is rather thought provoking as it depicts a couple of youngsters watching the Woodrow High School Cadets on parade in 1945, and although slightly shocking at first glance, it goes on to reveal not only a mixture of innocence and humour, but also from a depth of field point of view, one that's a little deeper.