Great Photographers

In todays lecture we were given a task where we had to go away and prepare a presentation on someone we seen as a great photographer. Our presentation should examine what makes the photographer significant and why we believe the work has impact.

We were given a list of famous photographers (below) to help us if couldn't think of someone. 

• Henri Cartier Bresson
  
• Norman Parkinson
  
• Robert Capa
  
• Man Ray
  
• Ansel Adams
  
• David Bailey
  
• Walker Evans
  
• Alfred Eisenstaedt
  
• Diane Arbus

Having gone away and thought about photographers and who i thought to be great and significant the one photographer who jumped straight to mind was Lee Jeffries. I chose Jeffries because from an early age, before i got into photographer i have always admired his work and have always been so intrigued and fascinated by his work. 

  

Lee Jeffries

Lee Jeffries to me is an incredibly talented photographer. He is a self taught photographer but still has impeccable technical ability. What stands out for me about him is the situations he puts himself in to photograph these homeless people. It takes a certain type of person to go out into unfamiliar territory, outside of your comfort zone and take incredible photographs.

Below are some quotes from Jeffries:

“I specifically look at people’s eyes—when I see it, I recognize it and feel it—and I repeat the process over and over again.”

“When I’m talking to these people, I can’t then leave that emotion, so when I get back to my computer so emotionally involved, sometimes I will start to cry when processing the image,”

“I can’t change these people’s lives,“I can’t wave a magic wand but it doesn’t mean I can’t take a photograph of them and try to raise awareness and bring attention to their plight.”

For me Jeffries is an honest photographer. He isn't shying away from real problems which surround us, he is documenting an issue and raising awareness for these people and people who might find themselves in a similar situation. As a society we try to ignore or forget about homelessness. We turn a blind eye so to speak. If you were walking down the street and saw a homeless person chances are you'd ignore them and look away. Jeffries is challenging this and going up to these otherwise ignored people and getting the time to know them and their story. He is showing something we otherwise feel guilty to look at. His portraits are making something perceived by the public as 'ugly' into something beautiful and intriguing. 

some examples of Lee Jeffries work: