What are the characteristics of yousuf karsh's photographic works?

YousufKarsh (1908 ~ 2002) is affectionately called "Ottawa Cash" by Canadians. He is an internationally renowned portrait photographer, and many celebrities who have been to Ottawa are proud to get the portrait taken by Cash.

Kash was born in Turkey, and fled to Canada in 1924 to go to his uncle who opened a photo studio. Cash's uncle gave him a brownie box camera, which made him interested in photography. Later, his uncle sent him to the United States to study under the famous photographer john carroll. 1932, Cash returned to Canada and worked as a full-time photographer for the Canadian government.

(A) sui generis unique style

Cash's portrait photos break through the tradition of paying attention to "beauty of appearance" in general photos, but pay attention to the "beauty of expression" of characters. He is good at skillfully using the contrast between light and shade to capture the moment when the inner spirit of the characters reveals, and the characters he shoots are both vivid and vivid. He usually shoots with a small aperture and uses a large negative of 8× 10 inch. Therefore, every portrait photo is rich in layers and strong in texture, and even the wrinkles on every hair, pore and skin can be counted.

In addition to capturing facial expressions, Cash also pays special attention to the positive role of hands. He always tries to organize the hands of characters into the picture. Cash's portrait of the cartoonist David Rowe not only shows the painter's humorous expression, but also depicts the gestures of his hands in painting and conception. As Cash himself said:

The inner thoughts, spirits and souls of a character are sometimes expressed in an instant through his eyes, hands and posture. This is an important and fleeting moment that photographers need to hold on to.

Cash's depiction of the hand of a character liberates the portrait photo from the mode of simply taking the head portrait, enriching and expanding the expressive force of the photo.

Cash likes to use dark background when shooting, which makes the characters look solemn and tall. The light ratio of his main light and auxiliary light reaches 1: 3 or even 1: 4. The main light is only used to outline portraits, and most of the characters' faces are in the shadows. But in the shadow part, there are very rich and delicate levels. In addition, Cash often uses hard light spotlights to depict wrinkles and beards on characters' faces, which is particularly prominent in the portraits of writer Hemingway and scientist Einstein.

(2) Shooting Churchill

What brought Cash international fame was his portrait of Churchill. In February, British Prime Minister Churchill went to Ottawa for a meeting. Through the introduction of the Canadian Prime Minister, Cash got the opportunity to take photos of Churchill. Churchill habitually smoked a cigar when taking pictures. Cash believes that this is not the image he needs. As he himself said:

I decided not to film him smoking cigars because I didn't think it was enough to show his greatness.

So he took Churchill's ashtray, but Churchill was still smoking. At this time, Cash stepped forward decisively and took the cigarette from Churchill. Just when Churchill was angry, Cash took the opportunity to photograph his scowl.

This image is exactly what people who oppose fascism all over the world want to see, and it has played a role in boosting morale. Because it was during the Second World War, Nazi Germany almost swept across Europe, and its arrogance was very arrogant, and the situation in the British Isles was in jeopardy. Churchill, as a British leader, appears firm, calm and unyielding in this photo, which embodies the fearless spirit of the British people in the face of strong enemies.

What Cash didn't expect was that after this photo was published in Life magazine, it had a great response and became the most printed portrait in the world, and he himself became a world-famous portrait photographer.