Artist research ~ Bruce Davidson ~ Who’s who?

Bruce Davidson was born in September 5, 1933., in Oak Park, IL.

He is an American photographer and has been a member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1958.

His photographs have been widely exhibited and published.

He is known mainly for photographing different communities and individuals who are supposedly known as “outsiders”

His work is lacking moral judgement, he is known as an explorer as he, during the 1980s, went to ride on the New York subway system, which was covered in trash and graffiti.

He began taking photographs at the age of 10, and he actually built a darkroom in his mother’s home. He was heavily influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson and went along to redefine the genre photojournalism.

Something interesting and influential within Bruce Davidson’s work is despite all of his images being shot in black and white, each image is different, showing different people in different areas and situations.

One image I find extremely inspirational is “Girl holding Kitten” taken in 1960, he apparently found this girl by accident, walking in the streets of London. There was a great deal of mystery to her.

“I didn’t know where she had come from, and I didn’t get her name, but there was something about that face – the hopefulness, positivity and openness to life – it was the new face of Britain.”

The photograph was taken with a normal 50mm lens and a wide aperture.

“I used the Ilford film, called HPS – hyper-sensitive film – which I loved, although it is probably no longer made. I loved that grainy texture; she has the feeling of a statue. I still feel close to this picture. I wonder what that young girl is doing now. She must be lurking around London someplace, or she may not be alive, you never know.”

I believe that this image is quite interesting and inspiring to me due to the idea that this young girl looks vulnerable in the big city, with the essence of mystery surrounding her.

I enjoy this photographers way of working with the subjects, whether they are standing, looking at the camera, looking at someone/something else or doing something, with the backgrounds being just as interesting as the subjects, the range around the images that are taken are never considered “boring” as there is always a story behind each image, each subject.