Diane Arbus was born Diane Nemerov on March 14, 1923, in New York City. Born wealthy and sheltered, Arbus sought adventure and deviancy in her photographic subjects. Arbus is known for her shockingly realistic portrayals of humans commonly forgotten in photography because of their unaesthetically pleasing nature. However, by photographing such individuals, Arbus was able to capture a more realistic image of human life, and the beauty of her photographs lies in their uniquenes and intrigue. Arbus’s career trajectory mimics those of other artists in the ‘60s: tortured, romantic, and ultimately culminating in death. Arbus was first introduced to photography by her husband Allan. The couple collaborated and built a career in fashion photography, …show more content…
“She was determined to reveal what others had to turn their backs on,” wrote her daughter Doon. Arbus was known for her determination to get the photographs she wanted. She would reach out to find her photographic subjects, visiting seedy hotels and shady places in pursuit of them. Arbus’s enthusiasm and genuine appreciation endeared her to her photographic subjects, and she would spend hours upon hours photographing her subjects once she obtained permission to photograph them. “She could hypnotize people, I swear,” claimed fellow photographer Joel Meyerowitz in Patricia Bosworth’s biography of Arbus, published in 1984. On her ability to get her subjects to open up, Arbus once said, I hear myself saying, ‘How terrific.’ . . . I don’t mean I wish I looked like that. I don’t mean I wish my children looked like that. I don’t mean in my private life I want to kiss you. But I mean that’s amazingly, undeniably something.” Technique-wise, Arbus was known for her sharp-focus look. “I began to get terribly hyped on clarity,” she said. Arbus used a camera that allowed her to capture images with brilliant detail, in alignment with her focus on capturing the vulnerabilities and oddities of