I jumped on a early train from Maryland to New York after a fun wedding that lasted well into the evening.  (love taking trains.)  The main reason I wanted to get to New York early was not only to visit B&H Photo the mecca of all photography gear.   No, I wanted to get enough time to visit the Museum of Modern Art, MOMA.

There is so much to see there but for me I enjoy the third and fourth floors the best.  The fourth floor has the paintings and sculpture of the latest periods and I find it so enjoyable to see in person these works of art.  The third floor is where for a photographer it is pure gold.  Photography takes a major portion of the floor and I had time to see the work of Richard Avedon.  My main reason for my visit.

If you are not familiar with his work I suggest that you take the time to google his name and view his photography.  What I find so interesting with his work is that he incorporated such movement into his work. At times he even has his subject out of focus but it was intentional in order to convey what he was trying to say through his photography.  The Malcolm X photograph is a great example.

The thing that you realize by looking at his photographs up close is that the power of an image comes from as much what is NOT shown as for what is.  Avedon use of slow shutter speeds and small areas that were in focus allowed the viewer to see mystery in the soft areas.

As an example, Alfred Hitchcock was a master of the mystery movie but he rarely if ever showed someone being killed.  This allowed the viewer to project their fears onto the experience and it was so powerful.  The fear of the unknown is almost always more powerful than the fear of the known.

Avedon’s allows the viewer to place their own feelings onto the image.  This makes the image relevant an powerful.  It also takes a master of his craft to make the camera sing in a way that most photographers simply don’t.  When you also realize that the camera’s he used were so simple as compared to the camera’s that we have now,  you start to view them as only a tool just like charcoal and paper.  The real camera is the mind’s eye.  The ability to see the unseen.  If we only record the event a simple camera and a person with a little experience would be just fine.

Weddings are a reflection of a couples hopes and dreams.  Sure they want to remember how their flowers and cake looked but more than anything they want to remember how they felt on that day.  The impact of the wedding day is not just the wedding dress on a hanger but how did the bride felt wearing the dress that she has dreamed about since she was a little girl.  Did she feel like the princess wearing the dress?  What were the couple’s emotions as they took their place in the family?  These things are not easily photographed but they are the most meaningful things to focus on.  This is what Avedon was a master of.  The synthesizing of a moment those feelings into a photograph.