Photographers who infuse a comedic lens into life's panorama often find themselves overshadowed by those who elevate nature's beauty, or document the grim realities of war and hardship. However, Elliott Erwitt, who passed away at the age of 95 in his Manhattan home on Wednesday, stood as a notable exception to this trend.
"It's about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It's simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what's around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy" Elliot Erwitt
In terms of comedy, Erwitt even went as far as creating a beret-wearing, pretentious alter ego called André S. Solidor (abbreviated to 'ass') in an effort to "satirise the kooky excesses of contemporary photography."
Originally born in Paris France in 1928, his family fled to the US as WWII broke out in 1939.
While serving in the army in early 1950's he became a photographer's assistant which led him to meeting other famous documentary photographers such as Edward Steichen, Roy Stryker and Robert Capa (who ended up inviting him to join Magnum).
Although primarily working as a freelancer for various picture publications, he became renown for documenting socio-political events such as Richard Nixon's visit to the Soviet Union in 1959, and on the other end of the spectrum – comedy dog photography, on which he published five photo books, Son of Bitch (1974), To the Dogs (1992), Dog Dogs (1998), Woof (2005), and Elliott Erwitt's Dogs (2008).
If you want to learn more about Elliot and see some of his captivating work, check out this great photographer profile by Tatiana Hopper on YouTube, or see his work on the Magnum website.