Photographer of the Week- Eliot Porter

Eliot Porter

             Eliot Furness Porter was an amazing American photographer that captured and produced both black and white and color photos. He was born on December 6^th, 1901 Winnetka, Illinois to an upper middle class family. Porter had four other siblings, one of which later became a realist painter. His mother and father both graduated from college with degrees. His mom was actively involved in liberal social causes and his father managed the family’s real estate. They gave Eliot Porter his first camera in 1911 and he tackled taking nature photos at the family’s vacation home on Great Spruce Head Island in Maine. These photos later on became his claim to fame.

                Eliot Porter followed in the footsteps of his mother and father and went to Harvard to seek a degree. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and was working for Harvard as a biochemist. Porter couldn’t shake his love of photography though and after encouraging talks with his family, he chose to seek a career in the art. He was the first American to hold a career as an artistic photographer. While black and white photos were the preferred medium of his time, Porter preferred color photography and often times had to battle his colleges over it. Eliot was also different from many other photographers. He got to do what a lot of people didn't do in this time; travel.

                Porter traveled long, far and wide for his photos. He took pictures of their architecture, famous landmarks and, his favorite, the wildlife. More specifically, Porter had a passion of shooting the birds of the region. He was good at it too. It’s amazing to think he could use such a slow and old camera to get close enough to get the shots he did of the birds. He traveled to places such as England, where his mother’s side of the family is from, Greece, Egypt, Baja, the Galapagos and many other exotic regions. His color photography was some of the first to represent these areas back in his day.

                The process of color photography in the early 1940’s was a strenuous one. This process involved Porter spending hours in a dark room, mixing his dyes, changing acidic levels and soaking different colored matrixes in dye baths. Once the dyes achieved his preference of color, Porter would have to write down the mixtures for future purposes of reprinting the image. It was hard work and involved a lot of time.

                Eliot Porter was married twice and a father of four children. His final and permanent home was in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Porter had published over 25 books and was working on more. He passed away on November 2, 1990.

This is my favorite photo Eliot ever took:

This is my favorite photo because even though Eliot Porter took very beautiful pictures of everything natural, I think this picture is amazing. There's so much detail, it looks like it could have been taken now with the technology we have now. It captures the child's expression well and the lighting is perfect. I like that it's in black and white because that's how Eliot got his start. This photo is a picture of his son Stephen Porter and was taken in 1946 in their New Mexico home.

A link to Porter's work:
http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/porter/