James Ravilious, a forgotten photographer?

[stunsworth]

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You won't find any sneaky shots in Ravilious's oeuvre.

 

That's because he knew his subjects. For most of us that's a luxury.

 

In very broad terms there are two types of 'people' photographers. There are those on the inside who want to know their subjects and there are those on the outside looking in who desire detachment. Ravilious was one of the former, as were people like Boubat and Doisneau, and then there were people like HCB who fell into the latter camp. What's interesting about Ravilious is that while he was influenced by HCB, and from a technical point of view wanted his photographs to look like those of HCB, they were poles apart in the way that they related to their subject.

 

There's room for both, but I know that from a 'relating to the subject' point of view I'm more HCB that Ravilious. But that's down to shyness on my part.

[mym6is12]

The BBC documentary was shown again last night - for those who missed it, there is a you-tube version : well worth seeing.

 

YouTube - james ravilious; a world in photographs

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