Sequential Image : Artists Research

We've been talking about sequential photos in class and studying the photographers who created them. I started by studying Elliott Erwitt, the famous photographer of the sequential image. I was really impressed by his sequential photography about discovering something interesting in an unexpected situation and wanted to know more about his work. Based on the saying of the artist, "To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." (Elliott, 1998) 

Elliott Erwitt is a well-known photographer who has made substantial contributions to the field while maintaining a successful career in commercial photography. He is renowned for injecting irony, puns, and humor into his work, yet he also creates photos that are sombre and evocative. Although it frequently seems as though his work is made effortlessly, there is actually a great deal of attention paid to techniques, understanding, and timing.

Dogs photographed by Elliott Erwitt

In this image, I can clearly see how neatly Elliott has photographed focusing on both the dog's expression, posture and the woman's legs and especially blurring out the background. However, Erwitt has written extensively on the topic of dogs. He has written four novels about them: Elliott Erwitt's Dogs (2008), Woof (2005), Dog Dogs (1998), and Son of Bitch (1974). The first book has a really intriguing and amusing title. Dogs, according to Erwitt, can be amusing at times and exhibit certain human characteristics.

Elliott Erwitt: Sequentially Yours

On the set of a movie, these sequentially images were taken as a few actors can be seen in the first image, it increases by more following each picture and capturing their different facial expressions, postures and each picture is depicting the moments they were all happy to be clicked together. Elliott has captured all this moments in this images and showed his talent all over the world by letting his pictures show his talent. He also published a book named 'Sequentially yours' where he has showed his beautiful photography and through the sequential images and shared us the story behind those pictures. He also said that during the publishing of the book that he is bad at talking while smiling but it is evident that he always let his artwork talk. However, I have observed that all the famous artist always let their beautiful work talk for themselves.

Elliott Erwitt on the art of photographic sequencing

 

I can see an old man is talking to the sitting dog as he goes on his way in this picture as Elliott also depicted on the picture. As an street photographer, most of the pictures clicked by Elliott were all in the streets, corners of the road, in front of a building and people passing by. According to my observation of his pictures, I believe that all the pictures were taken with a lot of patience & relaxed manner. I also want to have such patience and attention towards my work as I have just started doing it in the proper way. I hope that I will be able to be acquire all these neatness and detailing in my pictures in the future. Since the 1970s, Elliot Erwitt has devoted his time and effort to filmmaking in addition to photography. He has produced documentaries, feature films, and television commercials. Examples are Arthur Penn: the Director, 1970; Red, White and Bluegrass; Beauty Knows No Pain; and Glassmaker of Herat in Afghanistan, 1977. An Evening with Elliott Erwitt at the DocNYC Festival in 2011 featured a number of his films. Additionally, Douglous Sloan's documentary Elliott Erwitt: I Bark at Dogs included Erwitt as the lead.

Therefore he simply goes out and takes pictures of anything he thinks interesting, and then, after looking through his photo archives, he makes books or other products using the photos he already took. His black-and-white photographs have a transparency and humor that come through as true within the frame as he wanted to show the real meaning of the images.

References

Home (2018) FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS. Available at: https://www.famousphotographers.net/elliott-erwitt (Accessed: January 21, 2023). 

Elliot Erwitt • Photographer profile • magnum photos magnum photos (no date) Magnum Photos. Available at: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/elliott-erwitt/ (Accessed: January 21, 2023).

Bicker, P. (2011) Elliott Erwitt: Sequentially yours, Time. Time. Available at: https://time.com/3781974/elliott-erwitt-sequentially-yours/ (Accessed: January 21, 2023).

Elliott Erwitt on the art of photographic sequencing (2012) Oxford School of Photography. Available at: https://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/elliott-erwitt-on-the-art-of-photographic-sequencing/ (Accessed: January 21, 2023).