Garry Winogrand Essay -- Essays Papers

Garry WinograndGary Winogrands photography career began when a friend introduced him to it in 1948 while taking painting classes at Columbia University. After Winogrands first exposure to the darkroom, he abandoned painting and never looked back. Winogrand became super emerged in photography and felt that nonhing else in life mattered. He dropped out of college to pursue his passion. Earning an average of ninety cents per week, he had a laborious yet determined starting signal. Winogrand did not concern himself with issues that were affecting society and accordingly did not always appeal to the mass public. Winogrands long and successfully debatable career experienced m either turns and obstacle that ultimately guide him to experience one of the most noted photographers of the late twentieth century.Winogrand detect photography at a point in time when irregular photos were just beginning to emerge. Although it was thought that photojournalism had offered the most oppor tunity, this new and unconventional direction of photography was preferred. Artists were now able to shoot what they zestd not what they were told to shoot. This new form of photography was based on emotion and intuition as opposed to precision and description. Exploring real life became more of the focus, instead of mensurable or planned out pictures. In the early fifties, Winogrand attempted to become a freelance photographer, but the money he was making was not sufficient enough to support his new wife and children. He was agonistic to spend most of his time working for magazines such as Colliers, Redbook, and Sports Illustrated. At this time Winogrands photos had no distinction from any other photojournalist, but he always felt different and waited for the obtain to prove it. He once said, The best stories were those that had no story contraston entertainersor athletic contests, where the photographer could forget narrative and trim back on movement, flesh, gestu re, display, and hu piece of music faces(Szarkowski, p17). By the early sixties, Winogrands marriage was beginning to fail. He became frustrated with his wife Adrienne because she would not disregard her interest in becoming a dancer and go to work to support his desire to become a photographer. It was during time that Gary became extremely preoccupied with photographing women on the streets of N... ...ich pleasing of shoes, handbags, sunglasses, and hairstyles were most popular. The actions, gestures, and thoughts of these people both say and imply many things. The opprobrious man and white char on the left seem to be engaged in a conversation. The white woman sitting near to her might be whispering about the fact that the other woman is talking to a black man, which could further imply that this action of conversing impertinent of ones race was not commonly accepted. The older man on the right may not be interested in futuristic ideas, preferring more conserv ative items such as a newspaper. Although for each one figure is involved in something different, their actions seem to have a tie-up to one another. Winogrand shot a wide view of this scene, but whitewash managed to capture an intimate portrayal of each person. There are legion(predicate) possible stories and questions about each person sitting on the bench. Winogrand makes the viewing audience ponder over each expression and interaction, having them wishing they were sitting on the bench, eavesdropping on the subjects. Bibliography Szarkowski, John. Winogrand Figments From The Real World. New York The Museum of Modern Art, 1988.