About me
Although photography has been a lifelong interest, there have also been periods of many years when I was simply a viewer of images rather than a taker. After I retired in 2007 from a career in science and technology, I decided it was time to get serious about photography. My wife and I travel a lot and have a large photogenic extended family of adult children, their significant others, siblings and a rapidly increasing number of progeny.
This website contains a sample of street portraits taken from travels in the US and foreign destinations, and from photo-excursions to local destinations in search of people to photograph. Luckily for me I live near many interesting venues including Boston, Cambridge, Hampton Beach and several annual local events such as the Revere Beach Sand Sculpture Festival, the Somerville Honk Festival, and Cambridge International Parade that are great scenes for finding interesting people.
As you can see from the photos displayed here, my images include a mixture of both candid shots and street portraits made with the cooperation of the subject. At first I was mostly interested in individual people, but later my interests expanded to couples ( and other dyads) and larger groups.
It is still somewhat of a mystery to me as to what makes an interesting street photograph. Certainly there are minimal requirements, an interesting face or interesting pairing or grouping, good lighting, and a background that is either unobtrusive or can complement the image in some way. I find that I'm definitely drawn to the unusual, the smiling woman with the gold tooth with her very alert tiny dog, taken on the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, or the very muscular couple with their water bottles taken at Revere Beach. Some of the images I've selected because they have strong political meaning for me, the very happy young African-American woman at the first Obama Inauguration, or the three young Hispanic girls waving Amercian flags at a parade in Beacon, NY.
The portrait photographer I admire most is Diane Arbus. I am not so much drawn to her photographs of "freaks" but to her striking images of more normal but still unusual looking people. In the book "Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph", I love the variety of her images that include men, women, children, couples, and the diversity of shots, close-ups, full-figure, indoors, outdoors. Every page is a new suprise. There is nothing formulaic. The photographs are always about the subject, not the photographer. The image is never about dramatic lighting or clever framing. I hope my images can capture a small part of her vision.
Bob Olshansky
January 2014
Although photography has been a lifelong interest, there have also been periods of many years when I was simply a viewer of images rather than a taker. After I retired in 2007 from a career in science and technology, I decided it was time to get serious about photography. My wife and I travel a lot and have a large photogenic extended family of adult children, their significant others, siblings and a rapidly increasing number of progeny.
This website contains a sample of street portraits taken from travels in the US and foreign destinations, and from photo-excursions to local destinations in search of people to photograph. Luckily for me I live near many interesting venues including Boston, Cambridge, Hampton Beach and several annual local events such as the Revere Beach Sand Sculpture Festival, the Somerville Honk Festival, and Cambridge International Parade that are great scenes for finding interesting people.
As you can see from the photos displayed here, my images include a mixture of both candid shots and street portraits made with the cooperation of the subject. At first I was mostly interested in individual people, but later my interests expanded to couples ( and other dyads) and larger groups.
It is still somewhat of a mystery to me as to what makes an interesting street photograph. Certainly there are minimal requirements, an interesting face or interesting pairing or grouping, good lighting, and a background that is either unobtrusive or can complement the image in some way. I find that I'm definitely drawn to the unusual, the smiling woman with the gold tooth with her very alert tiny dog, taken on the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, or the very muscular couple with their water bottles taken at Revere Beach. Some of the images I've selected because they have strong political meaning for me, the very happy young African-American woman at the first Obama Inauguration, or the three young Hispanic girls waving Amercian flags at a parade in Beacon, NY.
The portrait photographer I admire most is Diane Arbus. I am not so much drawn to her photographs of "freaks" but to her striking images of more normal but still unusual looking people. In the book "Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph", I love the variety of her images that include men, women, children, couples, and the diversity of shots, close-ups, full-figure, indoors, outdoors. Every page is a new suprise. There is nothing formulaic. The photographs are always about the subject, not the photographer. The image is never about dramatic lighting or clever framing. I hope my images can capture a small part of her vision.
Bob Olshansky
January 2014
