Elliott Erwitt

Elliott Erwitt is the so called master of the indecisive moment. Born in Paris France in 1928 Erwitt has become well know for his black and white magazine photography. Many of his images capture ironic instances in the world that would be very hard to come by in every day life. To say he is a master of capturing the moment using black and white film would be an understatement. His ability to capture a moment in perfect lighting and contrast is fantastic. I am unsure of how many of his images have been staged. I imagine that most of his magazine photographs are set up. But the images that arn't set up. The ones that he took on the fly are are masterly done. Almost every one of his images I have seen is perfectly lit and has a perfect contrast. Something of note is his use of animals in his pictures. It is likely that the reason behind him using dogs in much of his work is because dogs are are seen as unpredictable creatures yet they can be very easily trained to stay for use in a photo.