Diane Arbus

Forty years ago today Diane Arbus committed suicide.

When I was nineteen and first introduced to Diane Arbus's work, I hated it and didn't understand it. Her work was breaking every rule of photography I had learned in my few years as a student and assistant. But that same year something compelled me to buy Diane Arbus's biography by Patricia Bosworth at a used book store. I read the biography three times within two years.

After reading more about her life, I had a better understanding of why she photographed the people she did and why she photographed them the way she did; I better understood the way she saw the world.

Afterwards, I had to get my hands on every Diane Arbus book I could find. To this day, Diane Arbus is one of my main sources of inspiration, and I will always wish I could have met her.

For more info check out the links below.

Diane Arbus Obituary, The Village Voice

Diane Arbus, Masters of Photography Video, 1972