Diane Arbus And Weegee Photography Essay

Diane Arbus And Weegee Photography Essay As a people watcher, documentary photography has always been intriguing to me. I remember thinking how wonderful it was for photographers to be in the right place at the right time and wondered how they knew where to be for that perfect shot. I began carrying my camera everywhere, and started looking at my surroundings and the people in them differently. As if that perfect shot was just waiting for me to show up, but I still was not getting that life changing remarkable shot. As I began to study photography, I began to discover, that while some documentary photographers did happen to be in the right place at the right time, like Arthur Felig (Weegee), most of those photographers planned and set up their remarkable and sometimes scandalous shots, like Diane Arbus did. While most historians would say that these two photographers had obvious differences in style and techinques, I found that both had many similarities. Diane Arbus was born in 1923 to a wealthy Jewish family. Diane was one of three fortunate children growing up in the Central Park West and Park Avenue areas of New York City. She once told an author, writing about The Great Depression that she grew up feeling immune and exempt from circumstance. One of the things she suffered from was that she never felt adversity. Weegee was born in 1899 in Austria, shortly after his birth, his father left Austria for America where he would work as a Rabbi saving enough money for the rest of his family to join him. Finally at the age of ten, Weegee along with his mother and three brothers arrived at Ellis Island in America. Weegees family was very poor, so he quit school after the eighth grade and worked to help his family financially. At the age of thirteen, Diane met Allan Arbus, an advertising department employee in her parents department store. After turning eighteen, Diane married Allan and was soon introduced to the world of photography. Allan gave Diane her first camera, and they worked side by side doing fashion spreads until with Allans support, Diane decided to leave the fashion industry and follow her own interests. While working several odd jobs with his father, a street tintype photographer took Weegees photograph. After that, Weegee decided that photography was his calling. He ordered a tintype camera from a Chicago mail-order house, and after a few months got his first job as a photographer. At the age of twenty four, Weegee landed a job at Acme Newsprint.. His new job was in the darkroom, but occasionally he would get the opportunity to go out at night and take pictures of emergencies. After a while, he started to get called for assignments and cover stories, but because he was an employee of Acme, he never got credit for the photos he took. In 1935, Weegee left the Acme company to do freelance work. Not long after leaving the fashion industry to pursue her own photography interest, two significant events happened to Diane, the first was her marriage to Allan failed, the second was a class she took with Lisette Model, a European photographer who encouraged her to push her thematic unorthodox interest further, along with, mastering the conventional technical aspects of photography. By the early sixties, Dianes work began to assume a distinctive look. Not only did Diane set up the shots she would take of her subjects, she would actually follow them to their homes and offices observing every aspect of their lives. While doing this, she would listen and visit with them softening them up until the public facade disappeared, then she would set up the photo shoot. In almost every case, Dianes subject would be posed in their most natural setting, wide eyed facing straight ahead looking into the center of the camera lens with the same curious expression. Almost like they were seeking some unspoken understanding from the observer. Dianes photography work impacts the world leaving us to ponder what is considered proper or tasteful in art. . In 1972, Diane Arbus was the first American photographer to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale. After leaving the Acme company, Weegee began checking in with the Manhatten Police Headquarters around midnight, becoming familiar to the police force. He would wait by the teletype for something to happen, then would rush to the scene of the crime to take his photographs. After years of this procedure, Weegee finally decided that waiting by the teletype was to cumbersome. He bought himself a chevy coupe and a press card, and became the only press photographer ever permitted to have a police radio in their car. His car became his home away from home and contained not only a police radio, but also a portable darkroom, extra cameras, flash bulbs, extra loaded holders, a typewriter, cigars, salami and a change of clothes. Weegee stated in his book Weegee by Weegee, I was no longer glued to the Teletype machine at police headquarters. I had my wings. I no longer had to wait for crime to come to me; I could go after it. The police radio was my life line. My camera my life and my love was my Aladdins lamp. After ten years of working freelance on the New York City streets after hours, Weegee published his first book, The Naked City, which was inspired by the work and city he loved. It was during this ten years that Weegee produced some of his best and most expressive photographs. . In 1962, Diane met John Szarkowski, the curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art. He brought with him a romantic, subjective aesthetic of photography. And in 1967, Szarkowski featured Dianes New Documents . That show, more than any other, established her reputation. In 1962 and again in 1966, Diane received the Guggenheim Fellowship for some of her non-commercial work, a couple on a park bench, a young Republican, identical twin girls and the marginal: dwarves, drag queens, circus performers. Weegee never had any formal photographic training. He never heard of any of the greats like Alfred Stieglitz, or Ansel Adams. The photographs Weegee took came strictly from his soul. None of his photos were planned, and were all taken with the same preset setting at f/16 @ 1/200 of a second, with a focal distance of ten feet with a flash. Style, texture, and quality did not matter to Weegee; he focused more on capturing a moment of time on film. He had mere seconds to capture the emotions of each event as they happened. Being a freelance photographer was not easy, Weegee confronted murder, viciousness children in need, street brawls, the homeless, fires and victims. However, he also confronted happiness, lovers, celebrations and the end of the War. His work is strong and stands on its own and is meant to be viewed one at a time and not as a group of work. With each shot, Weegee captured a truth that can never be recreated. In July of 1971, at the age of 48, and while suffering from depression, Diane Arbus took a lethal dose of pills and used a razor blade to end her own life. Her story, fits the popular 60s pattern of the romantic, tragic, brilliant, eccentric, tortured artist. Even now, Dianes work continues to fascinate. Her photos are amazing and startling to look at, even now. In December of 1968, Weegee died from a brain tumor. He is credited with ushering in the age of tabloid culture, while at the same time being revered for elevating the sordid side of human life to that of high art.

Dr Kings Vision of Economic and Social Justice Essay -- Martin Luther

Not many folks remember that the 1963 "March on Washington" was officially named "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." This fact often gets lost amid the important celebration of the general achievement and highlights such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" oration. Indeed, the theme of job creation runs though Dr. King’s writings. Perhaps no single policy could have as great a social and economic impact on the African American community—and the entire country—as federally funded job assurance for every person ready and willing to work. This is a policy approach that was explicitly supported by Dr. King, and that is currently receiving attention in economic and policy circles. In an article in Look published just after his assassination (King, 1968), Dr. King wrote that: "We call our demonstration a campaign for jobs and income because we feel that the economic question is the most crucial that black people, and poor people generally, are confronting." Thirty-three years later, at the peak of a peacetime economic expansion heralded as the longest and strongest in recent history, not only is the African American unemployment rate stuck at twice that of whites, but at around 8% that figure remains at a rate that would be considered evidence of a deep recession were it to hold for society as a whole: There is a literal depression in the Negro community. When you have mass unemployment in the Negro community, it’s called a social problem; when you have mass unemployment in the white community, it’s called a depression. The fact is, there is a major depression in the Negro community. The unemployment rate is extremely high, and among Negro youth, it goes up as high as forty percent in some cities. (Kin... ...ew, 15, April. Other Works Cited Darity, Jr., William A. Darity and Samuel L. Myers, Jr. (with Emmett D. Carson and William Sabol), 1994, The Black Underclass: Critical Essays on Race and Unwantedness, New York: Garland. Darity, Jr., William A. and Derrick Hamilton, 2001, "A Test of the Functionality of Discrimination," presented at Allied Social Science Annual Meetings, New Orleans, January. Other Work on Public Service Job Assurance Carlson, Ellen, and William F. Mitchell, 2000, The Path to Full Employment and Equity, ELRR: Economic and Labour Relations Review, Supplement to Volume 11. Warner, Aaron, Mathew Forstater, and Sumner Rosen, 2000, Commitment to Full Employment, Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. Wray, L. Randall, 1998, Understanding Modern Money: The Key To Full Employment and Price Stability, Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar.

Why Do We Need Solar Energy? Essay -- essays research papers

Why Do We Need Solar Energy?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the world’s natural resources depleting rapidly, humans must find a way to compensate. This society has milked oil, coal, gasoline, lead, uranium, and many other of these reservoirs in our Earth for hundreds of years and much has been done. Asphalt was used for our roads and highways, coal was originally used for heat before there was oil, and even water was used as a form of electricity on many rural farms. Luckily, more companies around the world are waking up to the fact that these resources will not be around forever, and that in the near future, other forms of energy will take heed. Solar energy, or energy powered by the sun, is one of the most promising. Since the sun’s rays create so much for the wildlife that surrounds us, why can’t it do the same for people? It can, and as many industries are finding out, will be around long after the other resources are gone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is solar energy? To fully comprehend this, background information must be presented. How did we get to the point we are at now? Most people look to the 1973 oil embargo, where Arab delegates announced they’d no longer be shipping petroleum oil to countries, such as the U.S., who had supported Israel in their conflict with Egypt. About the same time as this was announced, members of OPEC agreed to quadruple world oil prices. Focus then turned to solar energy. With barely any oil being imported, the Federal government started putting close to $400 million per year for research on solar energy. The facts were and still are ever-present: oil, coal, and nuclear energy are depletable, causing a massive amount of pollutive particles to go up into the air, which in turn causes a bounty of problems. On the other hand, solar energy is clean and renewable with no bad after effects. The actual definition of solar energy is â€Å"energy from the sun that’s converted into thermal or electric energy.† The terminology used when discussing solar energy may be complex and difficult to understand to the average Joe. This is because not much has been done to try and explain the uses or even the way this system operates to the public. The money allocated by the government has seemed to go towards research instead of encouraging and educating the people about the benefits of renewable energy. The breakdown shows us that ... ...exchanger, radiant floor, low consumption plumbing, fresh air intake, and propane for heat, cooking, and drying of clothes. These are the essentials of one solar powered house. Yes it sounds like a lot of work, but the same amount goes into a regular home. Some solar- homeowners are attracted by the low cost of monthly bills, others by the practicality. Whichever, the benefits to the inhibitors and the environment are well worth the time and money spent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In summation, we can change the world like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young once said. It can start with one person, but will need more support in order to flourish. Solar energy is not the answer to all of the world’s problems. There are constant new ones emerging each day as we humans make our everlasting impact on the planet. Yet, to get something done, one must do it himself using whatever it takes. Partnerships, group aid awareness, community action, maybe even wars, but the time for action is quickly passing us by. The environment in which we all live in and by depends on us and the way we live in this world. With voice, action, education, and funding we will start to see a new and better future.