Sowon Jung

Elliott Erwitt was born in 1928 in the beautiful city of France, Paris. When he was ten in 1939, his family originally from Russia shifted to the United States. There, from the New School for Social Sciences and Los Angeles City College, Erwitt learned photography and filmmaking until 1950. During the same decade, Erwitt worked as an assistant photographer.Erwitt was hired by Stryker who used to be the Director of the department of photography at Farm Security Administration, to do a project for Standard Oil Company. Once done, Erwitt started a freelance career in photography and worked for Life, Look, Holiday, and Coiller’s. In 1953, Elliott Erwitt joined Magnum Photos and this gave him a chance to do international projects.

Elliott Erwitt, Santa Monica, California (1955)

This is one of well-known photographs among Elliott Erwitt’s famous works. According to Elliott Erwitt’s biography, he describes taking photos as “just composing all the parts in a rectangle” I personally think that this photo is very harmonious that shows strong impact by playing composition within the rectangle frame. As you can see, the objects in this photo is not special and unique at all, but somehow it is so beautiful because the photographer tried to find something interesting in the ordinary. Putting the object (the couple) in the lower side of rectangle is well composed and the blurry images of background also helps to focus well. Moreover, this photo is so impressive because audiences can feel the same emotion through the woman’s smile which implies what the photographer might want to say.  The photographer might want to share his thought that life is not always special as everyone expects but, life can be happy in our ordinary daily moments.