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The Photography of Diane Arbus

Ken Nadvornick

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I have always enjoyed her work, its always so easy to get hung up on a picture for a few minutes examining the details in each one, and wondering about those people and their lives at that point in time. There web images dont do her work justice though, anyone remotely interested should grab a book or try to find a museum that have some prints hanging.
 
I know it's dweebish thing to ask, but what camera(s) did she use most frequently? Some look like them might be made with a Rollei, while others look more wide-angle than a 75mm or 80mm lens would give (yet less than what a Rollei Wide would render). Yet others look like a short telephoto might have been used. Hassie? What? Seems to me she'd want something relatively quiet for some of these.
 
She mainly used a Mamiya C TLR. https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=...15153.0.16893.20.14.0.6.0.0.121.926.11j3.14.0 and the interchangable telephoto and wide angle lenses probably ther 65mm and the 135mm.
 
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Huh -- hadn't thought of the Mamiya TLRs, despite having owned one and several lens years ago. Nice cameras, very heavy, very versatile.
 
Trask said:
Huh -- hadn't thought of the Mamiya TLRs, despite having owned one and several lens years ago. Nice cameras, very heavy, very versatile.
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Agreed, you get a truss for your hernia with every one you buy , I have two (cameras, I hasten to add,not hernias) and I still use them regularly.
 
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Intense photographs.
 
I've always admired the directness, and lack of judgement, in her photographs.

** A bit of trivia for those old enough to remember the TV show M*A*S*H- she was married to the actor that played Dr. Sidney Freedman (Allan Arbus), for over 25 years. **
 
The psychiatrist on M*A*S*H was Diane Arbus' husband?

Damn Eddie. You're my new hero.

I just LOVE meaningless trivia. And those who happen to possess it. Life just doesn't get any better than to know things like this.

You have done Holy work here. Henceforth I shall speak in whispers and avert my eyes in Your presence. And with guilt bask in Your reflected Glory.

Ken

(Looking down at his shoes as he types this...)
 
And before he was an actor, he was a photographer - he and Diane Arbus owned a photographic business together.
 
Crazy that he was in M*A*S*H. I just wonder how he felt about the theme tune...
 
Thanks for posting that link. It gave me an opportunity to look over Arbus' work, 'cause in the past I never really "got" the appeal and just didn't find her photos worth the praise. But I'm warming up to them, there really are some great shots in that 48 photo spread.
 
I've always felt that the appeal, at least for me, is that there is a tiny—or maybe not so tiny—bit of each of us in those photographs. An uncomfortable familiarity that you can't quite put your finger on. Nor do you even really want to. But you look anyway because something out in all that darkness rings ever so slightly true.

You may not have actually been there and done that. But at some uncomfortable point in your life you may not have been all that far away either.

Ken
 
It was reported on a hoax posting on Facebook recently by someone who is beneath contempt that Allan Arbus had died this year aged 95 , because although Mr. Arbus is 95, he is still alive and well.
 

Very true! Arbus pictures are not spectacular and look somewhat familiar even if they show a part of human being we don't want to see. For me, her pictures are less immediatly appealing but much more interesting in the long run than 99% of what I see.

Take care.
 
benjiboy said:
She mainly used a Mamiya C TLR. https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=...15153.0.16893.20.14.0.6.0.0.121.926.11j3.14.0 and the interchangable telephoto and wide angle lenses probably ther 65mm and the 135mm.
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I thought she mainly used a Nikon 35mm and a Rolleiflex.

I think she may be my current favourite. I am currently reading through the Taschen book on Arbus. What I find equally interesting and stimulating is her writing. She wrote heaps of letters about her projects and she religiously kept journals. She was clever, witty and extremely insightful. She was a wonderful writer and photographer. Her passion and enthusiasm are infectious and her humility and modesty both charming and endearing.

If I were to have a dinner and could invite 10 of my favourite current or historical characters, Arbus would be there.
 
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weebish,because you know it is irrelevant,right?
 
I just finished the Patricia Bosworth (Diane Arbus: A Biography) and William Todd Schultz (An Emergency in Slow Motion) books. In that order, it's a prerequisite.

The camera equipment she just happened to pick up on any given day could not have been further from relevant to what was apparently going on inside her, and the photographs that resulted.

If you think you understand after only viewing her pictures, you need to read these two books, and maybe the second one twice, then perhaps rethink.

Ken
 
benjiboy said:
It was reported on a hoax posting on Facebook recently by someone who is beneath contempt that Allan Arbus had died this year aged 95 , because although Mr. Arbus is 95, he is still alive and well.
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It should be noted that Allan Arbus died on April 19, 2013, about 5 weeks after this post.
 

Have you read Revelations? http://www.amazon.com/Diane-Arbus-R...8&sr=8-1&keywords=book+diane+arbus+revelation That's the only Arbus book I have and I thought it was a fairly thorough look at her life and photography.
 
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