Comapring Larry Towell Photos

Larry Towell stuck out to me among the other Magnum photographers, not for his photos but because of his bio. It stated that his business card reads "Human Being," that traveling is a huge priority for him, that being a poet and folk musician affects his style and that he tries to capture intimacy . When I looked at his photos I also noticed they presented a theme of people (usually in very small numbers) with the backdrop of the setting in which they live. There are a lot of fields, trees, snow-natural aspects of a person's inhabitance, effecting the ways in which they live.

These two photos really stuck out to me because of the subjects they both posses. Both have a focus on the one child and both children seem to be negatively effected by the living situation they are in. Also, both photos play with the theme of capturing light, shadows and darkness cohesively. The different architectural aspects of each indoor space also heavily effects the photo. Both have most of their light source coming from the upper right hand corner. It seems that in both, the light represents a hope for what is outside waiting for them, beyond the immediate poorer conditions in which they are currently in.

The first was taken in Ontario, Canada, 1992 and the second was taken in El Salvador, 1991.

 

Posted By: K-Dizzle