Thursday, February 7, 2013

Ezra Stoller

I saw an article in the New York Times this week about a famous architectural photographer, Ezra Stoller.  His work is incredible.  At least in my opinion.



He did not take photographs of puppies or flowers or sunsets.  He took pictures of buildings and offices and, sometimes, people inside those buildings and offices.  His images are in black and white.




Mr. Stoller died in 2004.  In 1961 he was awarded the first gold medal for architectural photography by the American Institute of Architects.  Here is a photograph of the John Hancock building in Chicago.



According to the Times article, there is currently an exhibition of his work at the Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea, New York, through March 2.  The article stated Mr. Stoller had 50,000 photographs at the time of this death.


A photographer such as Ezra Stoller has the ability to see beauty in what others may not notice.  Those things in life we walk by every day that seem so ordinary are suddenly transformed into something special by a person who knows how to capture the image on film with the right light or the right angle.

An empty office space with nothing but rotary dial telephones is interesting.  One can only imagine the office furniture will be arriving shortly. 



Even during the mid 20th century, you got the feeling of something new and exciting was happening.



Maybe not the Jetsons but you could see the Jetsons were not too far away when you saw this man's photography.

5 comments:

Cloudia said...

very cool - thanks


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Leslie: said...

We had Fred Herzog here in Vancouver who photographed Vancouver in the 40s, 50s & 60s. A very famous photographer around here!

Russell said...

Hi Leslie,

Johanna sent me a beautiful coffee table typebook of Fred Herzog's photographs for Christmas. It is very, very nice.

Yes, you are so correct - Herzog is an amazing photographer! He took pictures of people that were very realistic and often on the streets of the city.

Hilary said...

It can't be easy to make an office building look interesting... beautiful, even. That's an artist.

Unknown said...

I would like to find russell so that I might use one or two of his photos in a book. could you email me?

japridmore37@gmail.com