Larry Fink

Larry Fink was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at the New School for Social Research in New York City and was not afraid to voice his political opinions. Fink described himself as a Marxist. He has spent a substantial amount of time teaching and still remains on the faculty of Bard College. He also taught at Yale Parsons School of Design, and at New York University among other schools.
Fink’s work is widely recognized and shown regularly around the globe. He has done commercial work for big names like Bacardi and Smirnoff and has also been published in the New York Times and Vanity Fair.

http://www.larryfinkphotography.com/photos.php?cat=moments

I chose to analyze the project highlighted on Fink’s website called “moments.” It is a collection of photographs that document moments that would be familiar if one has ever been to a traditional wedding. On a beginning level, each image is black and white and tend to have a more “dramatic” lighting style. Some have a flash photography/documentary look, while others seem softer and show more deliberate control. This series is different from the others on the site because it focuses more on emotion and feeling, rather than documenting a specific person. Often people’s faces are partially or completely out of frame, and the emphasis is put on a different subject in the picture. Some pictures feature a shallow depth of field and demonstrate control in isolating a specific point of interest. The one of the couple holding hands takes the face out of the picture, allowing the viewer to project their own emotions into the image. That I why I believe these are successful and innovative, because it allows the viewer to put their own imagination to work. When they don’t see the face in the image they are able to put themselves or something more personal into it and therefore take more away from the picture then a standard “snapshot.”

Composition is obviously a big focus in this series. The position of the person/person’s in the frame as well as how much of them we see is thought out differently for each image. It’s interesting to compare the images together because there seems to be a pattern that arises. There are several pictures that are very general on first glance. They may be of just some hands holding or the legs of men standing in a hallway. Others though feature an entire person enjoying a moment. I think they are arranged this way to give us some idea of the specific event we are visiting, but also allows the viewer to make their own connections with the event by emotionally connecting with the pictures that are more general.
After reading several reviews, it seems that many critics praise Fink for his ability to come into situations and document the real emotion. One of the best quotes I found was from an anonymous review,

“Fink is best known for his photographs capturing moments of celebration
from unconventional perspectives. As an admirer for Henry Cartier-Bresson,he
carries on the idea of freezing a defining moment. His work reflects his
desire to document and portray the human emotions and elegant movements that
define and connect us all. "It is a profound aspect of our culture, this
compulsion for proof. It allows me to wade into a party."

People describe how he uses his senses to analyze an environment and then translate it into his photography. Some negative comments can be found in his more political work, especially that of his Vanity Fair coverage of the last presidential elections. Being an acclaimed photographer gives that person great power in how they want to portray individuals, in this case the presidential candidates.

Overall I enjoy the series because it takes a somewhat normal event and turns it into something more. As a viewer I don’t know who’s wedding this is and any of the people. If I were to look though a photo album of snapshots from a random wedding filled with people I don’t know, I would likely walk away not gaining much or feeling very connected. The way these images are sequenced however, makes me feel more connected to these strangers. I as a viewer am able to feel some emotion that I can connect with in some of the pictures, and then when I see a snapshot I can imagine how the person in the picture was feeling. This is a successful and interesting series because it begins to break down the boundaries I would normally encounter when looking at a bunch of strangers at a wedding.