I chose a Ukrainian contemporary photographer named Dina Litovsky who was born in Ukraine but has lived in New York since 1991. She uses elements of psychology and her interest in human behavior to take stunning images of people in her street photography. In her own words she describes the camera as her “passport to participation in the social life that I so desperately wanted to be a part of.” Her work is sometimes described as visual sociology.
If you go on her Instagram she has a link to her blog “In the Flash; Adventures in the unseen world of photography.” The reason I bring this up is because it was all very relatable to what we have been learning from you/Rob the past couple weeks about street photography. In particular my favorite blog posted a 3 part series about her social fears that kept her from being the photographer she dreamed to be. She draws on her own adolescent social phobias. She speaks of her mentor and infamous street photographer Bruce Gilden who spoke words of insight to her about the hesitance that was visible in her images as he stated “she needed to get over it or get out of the game.”
She tells the story of overcoming her anxieties and stepping up her game. Although at first that included an anti anxiety medication and a couple shots of good bourbon in a flask on her side for liquid courage when she’d go out on her shoots. The blog series includes some of her amazing street photography from around New York city that correlates with the blog posts. She also talks about the things she learned along the way giving tips and rules she abides by when going out on her shoots. Even the legalities parts of it are very encouraging and informative.
What I saw that stood out most to me was that her images were intimate or personal as if you were given a peek into people living their lives. At times when they think no one is looking too. It was very intriguing to me as was her reason for aspiring to be a photographer and her interest in human behavior. I too have that same interest.
Dina is a contributor to the new york times magazine, national geographic and many more well known publications. He also won the Nannen prize, Germany's foremost award for documentary photography and several other awards for her captivating work. She has both a bachelors in psychology and an MFA in visual arts.
Dina Litovsky and Vivian Meures are inspiring to ameutur street photographers everywhere. In my opinion their work speaks for itself with regards to fame. I enjoyed learning of their stories and admiring their photos many times over.
Dina Lotovsky blog > https://dinalitovsky.bulletin.com/569660374228892
No comments:
Post a Comment