Master of Photography: Yousef Karsh
“Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can.” - Yousef Karsh
“Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can.” - Yousef Karsh
Yousef Karsh is one of the masters of 20th century photography. He was born in Mardin, Armenian Turkey on December 23rd, 1908. As a child, Karsh struggled to live through the Armenian Genocide. At the age of 16, he came to Canada to live with his uncle George Nakash, a well-known photographer in Sherbrooke, Quebec. After studying in Canada, Yousef Karsh travelled to Boston in 1928 to apprentice with portrait photographer John Garo. In 1936, Karsh’s first solo exhibition was held in the drawing room of the Château Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario. Throughout his career, Karsh mostly used the 8×10 bellows Calumet camera to capture portraits of several significant figures of his generation including Winston Churchill, Princess Elizabeth, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, and many more. Karsh also published 15 books of his photographs which, along with the photos, included brief descriptions of the sessions. Karsh was recognized all around the world for his excellent photography. His photographs have been permanently displayed in many different museums around the world including National Gallery of Canada, New York's Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and many more. As a matter of fact, Karsh’s life and work were celebrated during Festival Karsh in Ottawa during 2009. Also, Canada Post released an artist’s series of three stamps depicting Karsh’s images during the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yousef Karsh. In 1997, Karsh moved to Boston and died on July 13th, 2002.
This portrait photograph of Winston Churchill was captured by Yousef Karsh in 1941. After speaking at the Canadian Parliament, Churchill gave Karsh two minutes to capture a photo. At the time, Churchill was not in a pleasant mood as Karsh states, “He was in no mood for portraiture and two minutes were all that he would allow [...] Two niggardly minutes in which I must try to put on film a man who had already written a library of books.” Just before Karsh was about to capture the photo, Churchill lit a cigarette and started to smoke. Even though Karsh held out an ashtray, Churchill denied to throw away his cigarette. Karsh then, respectfully, pulled the cigarette away from Churchill's hands which made him very angry. At that moment, Karsh decided to take the photo in order to capture the anger that was present in Churchill’s face. I chose this photo because the emotion of Churchill that the portrait displays appealed to me. In regular portraits, the photographer directs the subject to pose a certain way in order to capture the perfect emotion needed for the photo. However, in this portrait, Karsh did not manipulate Churchill’s pose. Rather, the natural anger in Churchill's face was captured as the photo was taken when Churchill was not ready. Even though Karsh took another photo later when he was ready, this photo that captures the anger of Winston Churchill became very famous and was the cover photo for Life Magazine in May, 1945.
Yousef Karsh used several different elements and principles of photography in this portraiture. The different elements of photography that are depicted in this photo are line, value and space. To begin, the square pattern in the background of this picture contains several straight, physical lines. Also, there are different shades of grey around the subject which creates value in the photograph. Around the subject, there is a light shade of grey. Around the border of the picture, away from the subject, there is a darker shade of grey. Furthermore, there is space, both positive and negative, around the work of art in the photograph. The subject in the photo, Winston Churchill, serves as positive space. In contrast, the background of the photograph serves as negative space. Karsh also used several different principles of photography in this photograph. The different principles of photography that are depicted in this photo are balance, emphasis and pattern. First, this photo resembles asymmetrical balance. At a quick glance, the photo appears to be symmetrically balanced. However, at a closer look, it is visible that a larger portion of Winston Churchill is to the right of the picture compared to the left, creating asymmetrical balance. Next, this photo resembles emphasis. When looking at this photo, audience’s eyes are first directed towards the emphasized subject in the photo, Winston Churchill. Lastly, there is a resemblance of pattern in the photo. The repetition of the squares in the background over and over again creates a feeling of pattern in this photograph. Clearly, this photo, captured by Yousef Karsh, contains several different elements and principles of photography which makes it one of the most famous works of art by Karsh.
In this photo, Yousef Karsh tried to take a regular portrait in order to catch the essence of the subject, Winston Churchill. However, when Churchill denied to put away his cigarette, Karsh pulls it away from Churchill which made him very angry and that is when Karsh decided to take a the picture. Even though Karsh planned this to be a normal portraiture, it turned out to be a very unique photo of Winston Churchill that depicts his anger. Being a significant character at the time, Churchill had many portraitures of himself taken by different photographers. If Karsh captured a regular portraiture of Churchill, it would not be as intriguing to the audience since there are many similar photos that have already been captured. However, capturing Churchill’s photograph at a very precise moment when his anger is depicted made this photograph unique and interesting to the audience. Since I, personally, enjoy one of a kind and intriguing things, this photograph appealed to me as it is different from regular portraitures and depicts the subject's emotions.
In my opinion, I think that this photo is successful because it exceeds the boundaries of a regular portraiture. In a regular portraiture, the photographer sets up the subject for the photo and subjects usually do not show any emotion to make the portraiture very formal. However, this photograph captures the subject’s emotion when he was not ready. There is nothing, in particular, that I would change about this photo because I think the photo, itself, is very unique and changing anything in the photo might affect the different aspects of this photo that make it very unique and a favourite portraiture around the world.
The photo to the left of Liam Anderson is similar to the style and subject matter of Yousef Karsh. The idea of capturing a portrait that depicts the subject’s emotion was followed when taking this photo. The photo was taken as it would’ve been if it were a regular portrait. However, following Karsh’s style, the subject’s emotions are also depicted in this photograph. Also, the color of the image, black and white, is the same in both cases. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the background of the portrait of Churchill depicted pattern, a principle of photography. Similarly, this photo’s background depicts pattern as the shape of the bricks repeat themselves over and over again. Furthermore, the photograph of Winston Churchill display space. This photograph also displays space as Liam, the subject, is the positive space while everything around the subject is negative space. Emphasis is also common between these two pictures as the subjects draw it’s audience’s attention when looking at the picture. Lastly, balance, a principle of photography, is present in both of the photographs. Both of these portraits depict asymmetrical balance as a greater amount of the visual weight is present to the right side of the picture.
This portrait photograph of Winston Churchill was captured by Yousef Karsh in 1941. After speaking at the Canadian Parliament, Churchill gave Karsh two minutes to capture a photo. At the time, Churchill was not in a pleasant mood as Karsh states, “He was in no mood for portraiture and two minutes were all that he would allow [...] Two niggardly minutes in which I must try to put on film a man who had already written a library of books.” Just before Karsh was about to capture the photo, Churchill lit a cigarette and started to smoke. Even though Karsh held out an ashtray, Churchill denied to throw away his cigarette. Karsh then, respectfully, pulled the cigarette away from Churchill's hands which made him very angry. At that moment, Karsh decided to take the photo in order to capture the anger that was present in Churchill’s face. I chose this photo because the emotion of Churchill that the portrait displays appealed to me. In regular portraits, the photographer directs the subject to pose a certain way in order to capture the perfect emotion needed for the photo. However, in this portrait, Karsh did not manipulate Churchill’s pose. Rather, the natural anger in Churchill's face was captured as the photo was taken when Churchill was not ready. Even though Karsh took another photo later when he was ready, this photo that captures the anger of Winston Churchill became very famous and was the cover photo for Life Magazine in May, 1945.
Yousef Karsh used several different elements and principles of photography in this portraiture. The different elements of photography that are depicted in this photo are line, value and space. To begin, the square pattern in the background of this picture contains several straight, physical lines. Also, there are different shades of grey around the subject which creates value in the photograph. Around the subject, there is a light shade of grey. Around the border of the picture, away from the subject, there is a darker shade of grey. Furthermore, there is space, both positive and negative, around the work of art in the photograph. The subject in the photo, Winston Churchill, serves as positive space. In contrast, the background of the photograph serves as negative space. Karsh also used several different principles of photography in this photograph. The different principles of photography that are depicted in this photo are balance, emphasis and pattern. First, this photo resembles asymmetrical balance. At a quick glance, the photo appears to be symmetrically balanced. However, at a closer look, it is visible that a larger portion of Winston Churchill is to the right of the picture compared to the left, creating asymmetrical balance. Next, this photo resembles emphasis. When looking at this photo, audience’s eyes are first directed towards the emphasized subject in the photo, Winston Churchill. Lastly, there is a resemblance of pattern in the photo. The repetition of the squares in the background over and over again creates a feeling of pattern in this photograph. Clearly, this photo, captured by Yousef Karsh, contains several different elements and principles of photography which makes it one of the most famous works of art by Karsh.
In this photo, Yousef Karsh tried to take a regular portrait in order to catch the essence of the subject, Winston Churchill. However, when Churchill denied to put away his cigarette, Karsh pulls it away from Churchill which made him very angry and that is when Karsh decided to take a the picture. Even though Karsh planned this to be a normal portraiture, it turned out to be a very unique photo of Winston Churchill that depicts his anger. Being a significant character at the time, Churchill had many portraitures of himself taken by different photographers. If Karsh captured a regular portraiture of Churchill, it would not be as intriguing to the audience since there are many similar photos that have already been captured. However, capturing Churchill’s photograph at a very precise moment when his anger is depicted made this photograph unique and interesting to the audience. Since I, personally, enjoy one of a kind and intriguing things, this photograph appealed to me as it is different from regular portraitures and depicts the subject's emotions.
In my opinion, I think that this photo is successful because it exceeds the boundaries of a regular portraiture. In a regular portraiture, the photographer sets up the subject for the photo and subjects usually do not show any emotion to make the portraiture very formal. However, this photograph captures the subject’s emotion when he was not ready. There is nothing, in particular, that I would change about this photo because I think the photo, itself, is very unique and changing anything in the photo might affect the different aspects of this photo that make it very unique and a favourite portraiture around the world.
The photo to the left of Liam Anderson is similar to the style and subject matter of Yousef Karsh. The idea of capturing a portrait that depicts the subject’s emotion was followed when taking this photo. The photo was taken as it would’ve been if it were a regular portrait. However, following Karsh’s style, the subject’s emotions are also depicted in this photograph. Also, the color of the image, black and white, is the same in both cases. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the background of the portrait of Churchill depicted pattern, a principle of photography. Similarly, this photo’s background depicts pattern as the shape of the bricks repeat themselves over and over again. Furthermore, the photograph of Winston Churchill display space. This photograph also displays space as Liam, the subject, is the positive space while everything around the subject is negative space. Emphasis is also common between these two pictures as the subjects draw it’s audience’s attention when looking at the picture. Lastly, balance, a principle of photography, is present in both of the photographs. Both of these portraits depict asymmetrical balance as a greater amount of the visual weight is present to the right side of the picture.