Elliott Erwitt passed away

legend. attended a talk back in 2009 when he was a young 81, great photographer and wonderful storyteller. RIP
 
back in a previous life when I founded the now defunct Austin Center for Photography, i arranged to have EE come to Austin and give two presentations on consecutive nights. he and I became friendly. these are three photos i took of him, two in Austin, and the third in his NYC studio when he was advising me on the edit for my photo book FAIR WITNESS. he was a genius, kind and generous, and as funny in real life as you might expect from looking at his photographs. a print of him with the AMOA sticker on his forehead hangs in my home. now, I regret not having asked him to sign it.

31_2012-07-30 1325 Image 0018 [Elliott Erwitt, Austin, 2012].jpg40_2009-09-28 1055 Image 0091 [Elliott Erwitt Visits AMOA].jpg20_2009-05-18 2337 Image 0048 [Elliott Erwitt in Studio, NYC, 2009].jpg
 
AusDLK said:
back in a previous life when I founded the now defunct Austin Center for Photography, i arranged to have EE come to Austin and give two presentations on consecutive nights. he and I became friendly. these are three photos i took of him, two in Austin, and the third in his NYC studio when he was advising me on the edit for my photo book FAIR WITNESS. he was a genius, kind and generous, and as funny in real life as you might expect from looking at his photographs. a print of him with the AMOA sticker on his forehead hangs in my home. now, I regret not having asked him to sign it.

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This is very cool. Thanks for sharing.
 
Sad news. Always admired his photography. Many of his pictures had a certain wit about them, and made me chuckle. Condolences to the family.

Jim B.
 
A full life indeed. He had such breadth across genres, some he created like the dogs series. His humour was evident often, like the picture of gallery goers crowded around an empty frame with paintings with content left unexamined.

As a teenager I regularly borrowed the Elliott Erwitt volume of the Thames and Hudson Masters of Contemporary Photography series. At the end of the book he talks about the technical background of some of the shots included. A total professional for that commercial work. The Leica to finally get one picture of a very reluctant Italian aristocratic widow. The Nikon tilt shift lens for the architectural shots. The view camera for the long shot of the table at an outdoor wedding. The portrait of Casals who was sick and so wasn't there. He still brought off the shot with just the cello. The famous Buckminster Fuller shot with the Leica and 21 Superangulon, the great man in the helicopter, in focus, sharp, mere inches from Erwitt's lens, and the geodesic dome far below still in sufficient focus.

As already said, you could learn a lot from looking at his photographs. And that book I found new old stock years later and I look at it regularly.
 
Something odd from the Washington Post's obit: "Armed with his Rolleiflex 4x5 portrait camera, along with his versatile Leica Rangefinder, Mr. Erwitt bore witness to some of the mid- and late 20th century’s defining moments."

A 4x5 Rolleiflex??
 
Dan said:
Something odd from the Washington Post's obit: "Armed with his Rolleiflex 4x5 portrait camera, along with his versatile Leica Rangefinder, Mr. Erwitt bore witness to some of the mid- and late 20th century’s defining moments."

A 4x5 Rolleiflex??
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I'd love one.....(Gowlandflex) Reporters aren't what they used to be......
 
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Darthfeeble said:
I love the bit about how he learned photography, "I read the instructions on the box".
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When I met him he said the same thing to someone who asked him a similar question. He was very funny but also oblique - I think what he was also suggesting is that you can’t be taught to see, you need to learn that for yourself.
 
A sad loss. He was my greatest inspiration. Like Richard I had the Masters of Photography series book (along with others) that I donated and then almost immediately regretted. I have a number of his books, including Personal Best, and Dogs. I'd highly recommend looking through his vast archives, including on Magnum.

I call my Flickr stream Lynnb's Snaps in an oblique reference to the Master.
 
lynnb said:
A sad loss. He was my greatest inspiration. Like Richard I had the Masters of Photography series book (along with others) that I donated and then almost immediately regretted. I have a number of his books, including Personal Best, and Dogs. I'd highly recommend looking through his vast archives, including on Magnum.

I call my Flickr stream Lynnb's Snaps in an oblique reference to the Master.
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Unfortunately the days when Magnum had its archives open for everyone to see are long gone after the blunder they did with selling explicit images of minors. I found it punitive that they closed access for everyone instead of just removing those pictures.

Erwitt did some amazing pictures in Hungary, some of my favourite pictures from that trip are taken in a train station but all that assignment was amazing from start to finish. Also his work in Czestochowa in the 50s was sublime, he inspired Bruno Barbey to go too (and he also has some iconic pics of the pilgrim).
 
p.giannakis said:
Unfortunately the days when Magnum had its archives open for everyone to see are long gone after the blunder they did with selling explicit images of minors. I found it punitive that they closed access for everyone instead of just removing those pictures.
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The problem is they don’t know what they have. There are too many images for any agency to have them loked at, and the likely liability is too high.

p.giannakis said:
Erwitt did some amazing pictures in Hungary, some of my favourite pictures from that trip are taken in a train station but all that assignment was amazing from start to finish. Also his work in Czestochowa in the 50s was sublime, he inspired Bruno Barbey to go too (and he also has some iconic pics of the pilgrim).
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There is a book with his eastern european photos in it. I have it but can’t recall immediately what it’s called. It’s tremendous.
 
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