As Paul Stenquist noted some time ago, our own Frank Theriault is probably the Diane Arbus of our day.
Two things that surprised me -
1. She spent _a lot_ of time to get her images. I always thought she was doing the 'walk around catch you when you can street photo stuff'. But no - she worked some of he subjects on and off for -years- before she got the right shot. Apparently, she visited them, knew them, worked with them, etc. There was a story about her shot of a guy called "Uncle Sam" where she actually went on a trip with him, and caught him in his manic and depressive stages.
2. A comment from a childhood neighbor of the 'Jewish Giant' who basically said - "I knew him, everyone in the neighborhood knew him, and we all loved him because he was so kind and gentle. The photo of him makes him look freakish. He wasn't like that." (My interpretation of her remarks). I'm familiar with the photo, and on one hand I respect Arbus for recording what she thought was the reality of the situation, but the callers comments made me wonder how much of the real world we see in these photos, and how much is Arbus's reaction to it.
One thing that did not surprise me - Arbus was unrelenting in her obsession to capture people on film, and was uncompromising in what she took. There were comments (vague for the radio broadcast) about shots she took of he father in he hospital. The description disturbed me - there are many times, even as a nature photographer, where I stop shooting due to the sanctity of the situation. In those cases, I realize that blind obsession with recording events into the camera is secondary to participating / observing those events.
When it comes to people, I'm reluctant to even shoot a person's tombstone, out of respect for their essence. That apparently was not an ethic that Arbus held, and I do think the less of her for that. Though for the most part, her shots were of people who _wanted_ to have their stories told.
Good interview and apparently there is a new movie coming out starring Nicol Kidman to play Diane Arbus, as well as a new retrospective of her work at the MET.
- MCC
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Mark Cassino Photography
Kalamazoo, MI
www.markcassino.com
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