Duane Michals and Old Men

The photograph set below was taken by Duane Michals, a contemporary photographer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania born in 1932. At 14, Duane found his interest in visual arts and attended watercolor classes at Carnigie institute, until he was able to further his career and graduate with a B.A. from the University of Denver. Throughout his life, he was successful in creating photographs that had a lighter, humorous feeling to them. He expressed his knowledge through 23 different books, and even had his own exhibition in 2009. He is a modern example of a legend as well as a great, inspiring photographer of the 20th century.        

Duane's style of photography was different than others during his time. Several of the photos, as well as the subject matters of that time were more serious with darker lighting to emphasize the situation being depicted. But in Duane's photos, he has subjects that are relfecting a humor through his images. He continued to keep the black and white format, even when colored film became avaiable during his career as well. Personally, I enjoy seeing the images below because of its silly and friendly feel. The two old men in the photos are joking around, drinking coffee, and seem to be even purposly varying their expressions from happiness to stoic to add a funny vibe towards the set. Duane is successful in capturing his audience's attention through humor rather than a serious, dreading tone, and he is able to get his points through without making them seem drastic or forcefull.

I love the way Duane formatted his pictures; all the same persons, in the same enviornment, yet reflecting the time passing by and the different actions of the subject matter. I hope to be able to reflect this humor and clever use of technique in order to make my own photographs lighter in style and focus. I want to be able to use Duane's passing of time in my own work. For example, I may lapse time over a playful fight between siblings and the results, or simply show a change in the way a person would when put into a newer or unnatural situation. Duane has given me a chance to try a wide variation of subjects, techniques, and themes that could all allow me to improve as a photographer.