William Klein and Elliott Erwitt

William Klein

      After looking at William Klein's images, my mind kept going back to Henri Cartier Bresson and his storytelling type of photography. Each image that I see tells a detailed story, not necessarily clear, but still effective.  The image that I chose to talk about (right) really struck me the second that I saw it.  I opened a window with numerous Klein photographs and this image jumped out at me like....well....like  a person pointing a gun at me!  Obviously this photograph is showing anger and possibly rage, but at the same time, the calm face on the right begs the question "What else is going on in this image?".  The composition is very nicely put together, and the expressions in the image are very bold.  Overall, Klein did a great job of conveying a message simply with one photograph.





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Elliott Erwitt

Elliot Erwitt's family emigrated to the United States from France when he was only 10 years old.  By viewing his work, you can see that many of his photographs are taken in France and rightfully so, because this is the place where he grew up.  Some of best examples that I saw included many leading lines and  compositional genius.  Erwitt amazes me because he was able to photograph many different themes and ways of life.  Many photographers stick with one subject matter or one mood, but Erwitt on the other hand chose to explore many emotions and different situations in his photographs, and I admire this.  The photograph that I chose (left) was my favorite for a few reasons.  First of all, the leading lines of the road and trees lead the eye right back to the main subjects on the bike in the middle of the frame.  This photograph has special significance to me because as a child I grew up riding a two person bike with my father, and this brought back memories of those simple, relaxed rides along the open back-roads of Oklahoma.  The connection between the two subjects, and the child to the photographer never cease to capture our attention in this photo, and the composition adds the visual aspect that this photograph needs to be successful.