Diane Arbus was a
photographer whose
prolific work in the mid-60's concentrated largely on "
freaks" and the faces of many people, both in
New York and
Hollywood. Some of these freaks were truly
misformed people, some were participants in the "
punk" scene, which was truly new at the time, and some were
celebreties.
Several other works concentrated on what is not seen in the image, rather than what is in the image, namely: people. Several of these photos, including A house on a hill, Hollywood, Cal. 1963, and A castle in Disneyland, Cal. 1962 concentrate on images that are exciting and "magical" largely because of the people who are there. When seen at night after all the visiters have gone home, Disney Castle is ominous and almost frightening; it is lonely and empty at best.
Arbus once said, "Lately I've been struck with how I really love what you can't see in a photograph. An Actual physical darkness. And it's very thrilling for me to see darkness again."
What she meant by "darkness" was something both "technical" and physical. Something paradoxical- the thrill of "seeing" invisibility, or at least envisioning it, the love of seeing what you can't see. Many of her photos are full of dark grays that are nearly indistinguishable, that point at which photographs stop letting the details come into sight.
Her work is fascinating. Check it out.
Source:Diane Arbus, an essay by Carol Armstrong