The Mind Behind the Photo

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One thing that struck me when I walked into the seminar room at the Macaulay building yesterday was the relaxed atmosphere of the space. Rather than delivering a stiff account of his life and work, Howard Greenberg’s tone was friendly and conversational. I could see that students were listening to him out of interest rather than just politeness. I have been to talks before where the speaker has not been able to hold my attention and I have often attributed this to the fact that I am not interested in the subject. Photography is yet another subject that has never been of real interest to me, yet I found myself engaged in everything Greenberg was saying. His obvious passion and love for photography drew in everyone in the room. I liked that Greenberg made the photographs he had displayed more personal by revealing the stories behind them. He especially interested me in the photograph, “American Girl in Italy,” to the point of encouraging me to look up the photographer, Ruth Orkin, when I got home. Greenberg told us how Orkin had set up the photograph, by telling her friend to walk past a group of Italian men. She had an idea of the scene this encounter would create and thus succeeded in capturing what would be the most renowned image of her career. Though taking a good photo isn’t especially hard, as Greenberg himself said, this story made me realize that a true photographer needs a deep understanding of his or her subject in order to capture a meaningful image. Having recently been to Italy, I recognized that Orkin really had a feel for the culture and personality of Italy which was necessary in order to produce such a rich and expressive image. Greenberg’s talk taught me several new things about a subject I knew little of, but most importantly in my eyes, it gave me a greater appreciation for photography and the creativity and deliberation that lies behind each image.