Lessons Harry Callahan Has Taught Me About Street Photography (and

Life)

I recently came upon the work of Harry Callahan from a friend and former
workshop student named Chris Giuseppe.

This past weekend, I organized a small meet-up in San Francisco in the mission
district (Haus Coffee is lovely) and about 10 of us street photographers met up,
exchanged prints, photography books, current projects, and good laughs and
catching-up.

This Harry Callahan book that Chris brought (the book is just called “Harry
Callahan”) was a big tome– and diverse in its material. Harry Callahan had an
incredible career in terms of his photography– he photographed so much
different subject matter with so much emotion, soul, and tenacity.

One thing Chris told me that he loved about Harry’s work was his close and
intimate relationship with his wife Eleanor– in which he photographed her
lovingly and with care.

Considering that I have been trying to photograph my girlfriend and partner

Cindy – I was interested. I looked through the work of Harry Callahan, and was
fascinated how he excelled in so many different types of photography:
portraiture, nudes (of Eleanor), architecture, abstract, landscape, multiple-
exposure “trick” photography, as well as his street photography.

Harry was a generalist– he didn’t only photograph one thing specifically. He

photographed everything– with equal amounts of passion and gusto.

This interested me a lot because I am generally the type in which I advocate the
importance of “specialization”– of focusing on one thing and getting really good
at it (before moving onto other things).

But in life (and photography), there are no rules– only guidelines.

So anyways, Chris generously let me borrow his book (thanks Chris) and after
going through the introduction of the book (excellent) and of an interview I
found of him from 1975 I put together this article. I hope the love, passion, and
insights from Harry Callahan can be an inspiration to you (as it was for me):

Biography of Harry Callahan

I personally don’t like writing biographies– much of this section is heavily

borrowed/copied/paraphrased from the Harry Callahan book introduction. But
here we go:

To get to know the life of Harry Callahan, we need to realize that he had a
prolific working life as a photographer (he lived from 1912–1999) and was
definitely one of the pioneers of the 20th century American school of
photography. He had an outstanding 38 exhibitions at the New York Museum of
Modern Art from 1956–1997. The great curator John Szarkowski also curated
Harry’s retrospective in 1976 called “Callahan”. Also in 1978, Harry Callahan was
the first photographer to represent the United States at the Venice Biennial,
which he did with painter Richard Diebenkorn.

Harry also traveled a lot during his life as a photographer. In the states, he took
a lot of photos in Detroit, Chicago, Providence, Atlanta, and New York.
Internationally he went on trips to France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, and Ireland.

In terms of his own photography, he saw himself as an “art photographer” and

the main themes of his photography included nature, his wife Eleanor (and
daughter Barbara), and the city streets.

How did Harry make a living? Well, he started off making a living teaching
photography, starting in 1946 when he was hired to teach at the Department of
Photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago. In 1961, he was asked to
establish and head the Department of Photography at the Rhode Island School
of Design in Providence. Although he enjoyed teaching, he enjoyed
photographing more.
When his photos started to sell in the mid–1970’s, he contemplated retiring so
he could devote his entire life to traveling and making pictures. His dream was
fulfilled in 1978, and he soon quit making black and white photos and explored
color photography. During this period, he made lots of rips to Japan, China,
Mexico, and Ireland and he made thousands of Kodachrome transparencies of
all these trips.

How did Harry Callahan get started in photography?

So in the previous section we got a quick look into his life as a photographer–
but let’s get more into the nitty gritty of how he first picked up a camera and got
started in it.

On picking up his first camera

In 1938 a cousin of his wife Eleanor inspired Harry Callahan to buy his own
camera. Harry shares the story below:

“He showed me this thing and it looked just like a jewel. That’s what
started me— that nice piece of machinery.”

Harry was fascinated by the camera, and he was 26 and an office clerk in the
Chrysler Motors mail-order department brought himself a Rolleicord 120 that
shot 6x6 film. He learned to develop his film.

On joining the “Chrysler Motors Corporation Camera Club” and the “Detroit
Photo Guild”

Initially started at the Chrysler Motors Corporation Camera Club, an amateur

club for practical tips. He shares his experience:

“I saw that these people were serious about photography– that

photography was important.”

Later on, he moved onto the Detroit Camera Club. This club was a different type
of beast– they had a very strict set of rules, manipulated their photos heavily–
which turned Harry off:

“They had a fellow, I forget what … I think his name was

Fossbender. He came and gave a talk to the Detroit Camera Club.
And he did all kinds of manipulation with paper and paper negative
stuff. And he painted out pictures and painted in things, and stuff
like that. And he says, well, “Now you people, it’s going to take years
to ever get to be this good.” And I thought “Oh, God, I don’t want
to go through that.” I wasn’t really nuts about what he was
doing anyway, but I was impressed.”

In the Detroit Photo Guild, many of the members imposed their stringent rules
on others (based on the creative traditions of Pictorialism). The rules included
the following: they manipulated their photos strongly, and also had lots of
stringent rules on craftsmanship, technique, and laws of composition.

Furthermore, a lot of members in the club spent a lot of time discussing

aesthetic theories that dated in the late 19th and beginning 20th centuries
(which bored Callahan to death).

Harry hated the stringent set of rules that the Detroit Photo Guild imposed. He
wanted to be more spontaneous with his work:

“I made photographs that looked kind of good to me. But I felt kind
of frustrated, things seemed all wrong.”

Turning point: meeting Ansel Adams

In August 1941, Ansel Adams held a lecture at the Detroit Photo Guild, followed
by a workshop. Ansel Adams was opposed to Pictorialism, as he was one of the
founding members of the group f/64 that was established in 1932 that advocated
“Straight Photography.” The concept was that they didn’t want to manipulate
their photos, and they wanted to show their photos as “faithfully” as possible.

This is what Adams said about great photos:

 “A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels
about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is,
thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its
entirety. And the expression of what one feels should be set forth
in terms of simple devotion to the medium.”

Harry shares more in-depth of how Ansel Adams inspired his work:

“[Adams] showed his work and it was all straight photography

—sharp and beautiful prints. Seeing Ansel’s work just
completely set me free. I asked him what kind of lenses he used,
what kind of film he used, what kind of paper he used, and what
kind of developer he used. I wrote it down and that was my bible for
over a year. The camera was a machine and it could take
machine-like pictures which were very beautiful. It could get
such texture— you know, that was just magnificent to me. I got an
8x10 camera, and just contact-printed my pictures because that was
the sharpest you could get.”

Callahan was fascinated by the sharp and highly-detailed photos (and tonality)
so he got a 9x12cm Linhof Technika bellows camera and traded his enlarger for
an 8x10’’ Deardorff large-format camera. Callahan also quit the Detroit Photo
Guild, and decided to meet like-minded amateurs at Arthur Siegel’s place
(where he also benefitted from their large photography library).

Callahan was inspired by Adams’ work and decided that he wanted to become
not just a photographer, but also an artist. Harry Callahan also shares how
photography filled a “spiritual need” deep inside him:

“I was just ready for it. I figured it out on the basis that I had been
religious and I didn’t really believe in religion anymore and I
needed to fulfill that spiritual need. Photography did."

Harry also started off by not caring about what others would think of him and
his work. He was just interested in making great art (which would please him):
 “I was off by myself, I think, in those days. I thought, ‘Well, sure, I’ll
be like Van Gogh and nobody’d ever know about me but Id
make really great art.’”

As time went on, Harry started to define himself as an artist and found that
photography wasn’t just a hobby anymore– it was something he deeply believed
in:

“I found photography as a hobby, and then finally realized that it

was something I really believed in. I had believed in the hope of
believing in something, and photography was it.”

To completely dedicate him to photography, he gave up his job at General

Motors in 1945 and along with his wife Eleanor and friend Todd Webb headed to
New York for a “personal fellowship” of several months, which he financed from
his own savings.

This is what he thought his photography could do for him— he thought it could
express his “feelings and visual relationship to life within me and about
me.”

What kind of photographs excited Harry the most? Well– it were the
photographs in which the photographer would express him/herself faithfully:

“The photographs that excite me are photographs that say

something in a new manner; not for the sake of being different, but
ones that are different because the individual is different and
the individual expresses himself.”

Harry shares more of his thoughts on his passion for capturing life in this
scholarship he applied at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1946):

“My project could only be to photographs as I felt and desired; to

regulate a pleasant form of living: to get up in the morning—free, to
feel the trees, the grass, the water, sky or buildings, people—
everything that affect us. This, I know, is not a definite project
 because life itself is not definite, but it could be the part of a
lifetime project.”

Through Harry Callahan’s entire life (1938–1990’s) you could argue that his
photography “project” was documenting his entire life.

In 1979 (at the age of 67) Harry wrote about his photographic life (looking back).
He wrote the importance of constantly moving forward and photographing
what he found interesting and important:

“I’ve always liked the idea of the way Walt Whitman wrote his
“Leaves of Grass.” He kept working on it all his life. Basically, he
kept most of the same ideas, but he was always throwing out some
parts and putting in some new things. I’m kind of like that. I just
keep shooting. Now, of course, I’m a different person and so I
might bring something else to a picture if I attempted the same
subject again, but that doesn’t change the validity of the
photographs made in the past.”

And if you were curious about “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman– you can
read it below:

“The art of art, the glory of expression is simplicity. The

greatest poet has less a marked style and is more the channel of
thoughts and things without increase or diminution, and is the free
channel of him. He swears to his art, I will not be meddlesome, I
will not have in my writing any elegance or effect or originality to
hang in the way between me and the rest like curtains. I will
nothing hang in the way. What I tell I tell for precisely what it is.
What I experience or portray shall go from my composition. You
shall stand by my side and look in the mirror with me.”

Harry Callahan on subject matter

One thing that sets Harry Callahan’s work apart from many other photographers
is just how diverse and multi-faceted his work is. Harry talks more about the
variations of subject matter he photographed below:

“It’s the subject matter that counts. I’m interested in revealing

the subject in a new way to intensify it. A photo is able to
capture a moment that people can’t always see."

Harry continues by sharing the importance of “wanting to see” and being

curious:

“Wanting to see more makes you grow as a person and growing

makes you want to show more of life around you.”

Furthermore, he is interested in exploring his subject matter for longer periods

of times (often several years):

"In each exploration or concern for the subject, I continue in

the area for a great length of time, sometimes a couple of
years.”

Harry Callahan on creativity and experimentation

How was Harry Callahan able to stay so inspired, creative, and prolific through
his entire life as a photographer?

On creativity

Well, he first took the long-view in terms of creativity. He didn’t see

photography and creativity as just a short-sprint. He valued the importance of
having a long creative life, as he said this in 1957:

“Creativity can only be measured by the value of an

individual’s whole photographic life from beginning to end.”

On experimentation with printing

When it came to experimentation, Harry Callahan would print his photographs
very differently. In this way, he differed from Ansel Adams who wanted to create
“faithful prints of reality.” Harry wanted to achieve his own inner-vision
through his prints.

For example, he liked contrasty prints, as he talks about his photograph “Weeds
in Snow, Detroit, 1943”:

“I tried to print them like a so-called “classic” print— tone, texture,

all that— and they didn’t look very good. So after maybe a month
I printed them again, and finally I printed them with contrast,
very black and white, which was sort of against what Ansel was
talking about.”

Harry Callahan goes more in-depth about printing with high contrast:

“If you print with contrast, you begin to see differently; you
begin to look at different things to photograph.”

So you can see that because Harry Callahan would experiment with his
printing methods, he was able to see the world in a different way. This is
how shooting with a different film or post-processing your photos in a certain
way can give you a different vision of the world.

On experimentation with color

Harry also experimented with color in his lifetime (which in the beginning, was
called “vulgar” by famous and prominent photographers like Walker Evans).

When Harry started to work in color he bought his first 35mm camera, a Contax
by Zeiss Ikon. This camera liberated him, due to the small size, flexibility, and
the option of using Kodachrome slide film. This was a great liberation for him,
as Harry did most of his work on large-format cameras (which were big, bulky,
and slow):
 “I had gotten sick and tired of looking at the ground glass and
wanted to work with a handheld camera. It was a freeing process
and I felt I needed the change.”

In 1936 when Kodak made Kodachrome, it was a game changer— as

photographers could now produce color images as easily as black and white
shots.

However the problem was that while slide transparencies looked good when
projected on a projector (think of old home movies) they were very difficult to
print (around 1941).

Initially the difficulty of printing color first turned Harry off:

“It seemed absolutely against photography for me to go in the

darkroom, take an hour to make one print, just to see what it looked
like. You can make a black and white print in a minute and a half.
Who wants to take an hour? If you are going to take that long,
maybe you should’ve drawn it.”

During that time, the printing process was “dye-transfer” which was a very
tricky, technically complex, and expensive process:

“The only good prints I made at the beginning were dye transfer
prints which cost $150 for one print. I wasn’t make a log in a month,
so I had to leave it alone.”

Therefore when Harry started to first shoot color, he just looked at his
transparencies (instead of printing them). It was a bit frustrating for him, as
there wasn’t much he could do with his color work (in the beginning):

“I always did color, from the very beginning, but I could never do
anything with it.”

Around the 1970’s the technology for printing color became a lot more
advanced, accurate, and quicker. This spurred him to work more in color.
Soon to follow, he started to travel the world (and only shot in color) in the
Caribbean, Egypt, Switzerland, Tahiti, Australia, Hawaii, Morocco, Japan, Peru,
Ireland, and Europe. This is what Callahan wrote in 1977:

“I’ve got about a year and a half’s work that hasn’t been printed.
The negatives are developed but they haven’t been printed. So I just
feel that I’ve got to stop shooting black and white. So it would be
color. I don’t have to develop it.”

So between 1977 and roughly until the end of the 1980s Callahan used only color
film.

On his working method

How does Harry Callahan figure out what to photograph, what to pursue, and
how to pursue it? His method was this: he just constantly kept shooting, which
would help him build his sense of seeing. This is what Harry Callahan said
around 1951 when he was shooting color photos:

“I photograph continuously, often without a good idea or a

strong feeling. During this time the photos are nearly all poor
but I believe they develop my seeing and help later in other
photos.”

On difficulties

Harry Callahan also faced a lot of creative difficulties in his life. For example in
1945 after the war ended and he quit his job, he moved to New York City. There
he met famous photographers such as Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, Paul Strand,
and Bernice Abbott. However he didn’t feel comfortable in his new
environment and failed to get a fellowship from the New York Museum of
Modern Art. He shares his self-consciousness below:

“I felt very self-conscious around the really big shots there in

New York. I felt out of place. we got discouraged and came
home— it was quite depressing.”
In Chicago of January 1946, he got a job as a teaching assistant in the
foundation course of photography. However he had a tough time:

“It has been very hard for me to teach here at the School. I am
completely non-verbal. Photography seems so simple to me
that there doesn’t seem much to say.”

John Szarkowski mentioned him as sociable and friendly, but introverted:

“One senses in Callahan a large capacity for privacy— for an

interior life unshared even by those closest to him.”

However he stayed and started to teach advanced courses, and took over the
department from 1951–1961 (when he moved on to the Rhode Island School of
Design in Providence).

On his photographic life with Eleanor

As I mentioned earlier in this article, I have been very drawn to Harry Callahan’s
photographic life with his wife Eleanor. In this section we will delve more into
his relationship with his wife, and he got started photographing her.

Harry and Eleanor Callahan were both married for an incredible 63 years. They
first met at a blind date in 1933, when Harry was employed as a shipping clerk in
the Parts Division at Chrysler Motors in Detroit, Michigan. Eleanor (at the time)
was a secretary in t he auditing department of the Export Division. Neither
Harry nor Eleanor had a college degree at the time.

In 1936 (presumably after some romantic interest) they got married and started
their life together. Eleanor was well established as a secretary and earned a
stable income that matched (and sometimes was more than) Harry’s. Eleanor
also helped Harry manage his business affairs (she was probably much better at
it than Harry), which allowed Harry to pursue his artistic endeavors.

From the beginning, Eleanor understood Harry’s passion for photography and
gave financial and emotional support that fueled his work.
In terms of photographing Eleanor as a subject, he photographed her
extensively for longer than 20 years, mostly from 1941–1963.

So why did Harry decide to choose Eleanor as a subject? Well, Harry was only
able to photograph things, people, and concepts that were familiar and close to
him. This is what he said:

“I can’t photograph someone I don’t know.”

Harry photographed Eleanor constantly: nude and clothed, indoors and

outdoors, in public parks and city streets, at the beach and in the woods, at sand
dunes and at the lake, at their family home and at the houses of relatives.

How did Eleanor feel about being photographed all the time? This is what she
had to say:

“It was part of our daily lives for 25 years. He took pictures of
me wherever we happened to be. I might be cooking dinner and
Harry would say, ‘Eleanor, the light is beautiful right now. Come on,
I’d like to take a picture of you.’ And we’d go make a photograph. Or
we might be at our cottage and we’d go into the fields where it was
isolated, and take pictures of the nude in nature.”

Harry was once asked why he didn’t photograph models or anybody else. This is
what he had to say:

“I couldn’t photograph a model because that seemed artificial

to me…so I felt very relaxed photographing Eleanor. I didn’t
feel self-conscious and she never made me feel that way.”

Lessons Harry Callahan has taught me about street photography (and

life)

In this section below, I will share some more insights that Harry Callahan has
taught me about street photography (and life):
1. Go on adventures

In street photography, I love the feeling of going on a sense of adventure. This

comes to me most vividly when I am traveling or exploring unknown or
unfamiliar places.

This is what Harry Callahan said about the adventure of photography:

“I wish more people felt that photography was an adventure the

same as life itself and felt that their individual feelings were worth
expressing.” - 1946

I love this excerpt that Harry shares for several reasons:

First, he treats photography just like life: he is interested in going on adventures

for both.

Secondly, he emphasizes the importance for individuals to share their own

feelings– and ensures us that our emotions are worth sharing.

In another interview he expands on the importance of adventuring in

photography:

“I think all the time I’m doing it I feel like I’m adventuring in
some way. Looking for something. I’m not sure. Sometimes
things look like they ought to be good, you know, I mean something
looks right. But that doesn’t always make it come out right either.
And sometimes it doesn’t … you don’t know what it’s going to be
and it comes out real good and that starts you on a whole new way
of thinking and seeing.”

Takeaway point:

Treat your life (and photography) like an adventure. Nobody wants to go on a

boring adventure. Go to places that interest you (and also scares you). Step
outside of your comfort zone. Don’t just live life in a monotonous way in which
you’re just doing the same thing over and over again.

Variety is the spice of life.

Add variety to your street photography by exploring different neighborhoods,

by traveling, or by exploring different subject matter that interests you. If you’re
walking on the streets, don’t just shoot the same streets over and over again.

Explore unfamiliar streets. Go down certain alleys or streets that pique your
interest.

Also express your emotions through your photography. Don’t be worried that
your photographs might feel “over-sentimental.” The only way that
photographs are memorable is if they are emotional.

If a viewer looked at your photographs, how could your photographs reflect how
you see the world? How are your photographs unique from the photographs of
others? What emotions exude from your photographs? How do your
photographs make your viewer feel?

2. “Photograph your way out”

When Harry Callahan was asked how he faced limitations and difficulties in his
photography he said the following:

“Don’t you worry, I’ll photograph my way out.”

I’m sure you have hit “photographer’s block” or any other creative slump in
your career. We have all experienced it. I know I have.

Whenever I personally his these slumps in my photography, I am often tempted

to buy new cameras or daydream about traveling.

However I have found a much cheaper solution: just go out and make photos.
Whenever I am dissatisfied with my cameras or lust after a new camera– I just
go out and shoot. And when I’m in the “flow” of shooting in the streets, I totally
forget about everything else. The act of shooting re-inspires me.

I think a common mistake many photographers make is this: we think that we

should shoot only when we feel inspired.

I think the opposite is true: we should first shoot, which leads us to feeling
inspired.

What do I mean by this?

Well, let’s say that you are sitting on your couch at home (maybe watching
Netflix) and you’re thinking to yourself: “Man, I should be out making
photographs, not being a fatass on the couch.” You might then make excuses
about your camera not being good enough, not feeling inspired, blah blah blah.
But rather than waiting for inspiration to strike like a lightning bolt, just go out
of your apartment and go on a walk.

When you go on a walk, just start photographing anything that moderately

piques your interest. When you start clicking, your creative engine will start
warming up (just like warming up a car, you wouldn’t want to go racing at full-
throttle without warming up).

As you start to click more, your eye will suddenly feel more active. You will start
seeing more interesting things.

Another tip: I often “see” more interesting things when I have a camera around
my neck or in my hand (not when it is in my bag, or even worse, at home
collecting dust on a shelf).

Takeaway point:

So try to make it a habit of always having your camera around your neck (or in
your hand). I personally don’t think it is enough to just have your camera with
you in your bag. It is useless in your bag, as it isn’t cocked and ready to shoot.
If you’re used to a monotonous commute or a certain routine, try to train your
eyes to see. Try to make more photographs in a day (if you shoot film, try to
shoot a roll of film a day for 30 days straight). Or even easier: try to shoot
everyday on your smartphone and upload a photograph to Instagram at least
once a day (but not of your food or lattes).

Photograph those close and intimate with you. Take a tip from Harry Callahan
and photograph your partner, kids, or friends. Photograph what is familiar to
you.

So whenever you’re feeling a creative slump in your photography, just keep

making shots. You will be able to “photograph your way out” of this problem.

3. Have photography fulfill you spiritually

I myself go through spiritual phases on and off. I am Catholic, go to mass (most)

Sundays, have taught Sunday school, been an altar boy (never been fondled).
But as a whole, I do believe in a greater power, believe in the importance of
spirituality amongst human beings and communities, and believe that
spirituality is an important part to thrive as a human being.

You don’t need to be “religious” or follow any sort of organized religion. Just do
what feels right to you. “Spiritual” means many different things to many
different people. To some people it is meditation, to some people it is being
mindful, and to some people it is organized religion (as a side note, I highly
recommend “Waking up” by Sam Harris if you want to learn how to be
“spiritual” without religion).

Anyways, one thing I never thought about was how photography isn’t just about
making photos. It is something deeper. It is about experiencing reality in a
unique and deep, almost spiritual sense.

Harry Callahan shared his personal thoughts of how he turned away from
religion (which caused him to feel spiritually empty). However once he
discovered photography, he was able to fill that spiritual hole:
 “I think one thing that I seemed to feel in terms of my photography
was that when I was younger my mother was pretty strong on
religion. And, well, I felt very spiritual about that, you know. I didn’t
know anything. I’d just go to Sunday School every Sunday. But at a
certain stage in my life I felt like I wasn’t doing anything and
felt, well, I should do something to benefit humanity. And I
had friends, and we talked about religion and they finally talked me
out of it. [laughs] And I agreed with them, in that it was just another
form of witch doctor to me, you know.”

Harry continues with how photography became his spiritual outlet:

“I felt I had to have something to take that place. And with

photography, when I happened to get started in photography, all of
a sudden it did that for me. And that’s the way I always feel about
my photography is that I want it to have something spiritual
in it that makes somebody feel something. I’m not interested to
any real extent in saying something in the sense of, ‘This is a bad
society’ or social, anything like that.”

And what was the ultimate goal that he wanted to do with his photography?
Harry shares how photography can “move the spirit in human beings”:

“I always figured that if it moved the spirit in human beings,

then that’s what I wanted to do. And I think that’s the way I listen
to music and that’s the way I read and everything else, is to be
moved that way.”

Takeaway point:

Now I’m not saying that we should suddenly turn to photography as our
religion. Don’t quit your local religious organization and suddenly start hailing
the Leica (although some photographers I know treat their camera brands like a
cult).
What I am trying to advocate is the fact that photography isn’t just making
photographs. It is something deeper– almost something spiritual. You are
expressing your soul, experience of the world, and vision with the rest of the
world. If you publish your photographs online (or in print), exhibit your photos,
or make books– you are a social photographer. You make photographs to inspire
other people.

Whenever I look at a great photograph, it stirs something in my heart and in my

soul.

A truly great photograph can change the world I see and perceive the world. A
truly great photograph fills some sort of emotional need in my soul. A truly
great photograph can change the world through changing the minds and
actions of the viewers.

So remember: photography can and should be something deeper. You want

photography to fulfill an inner-desire. Otherwise, why would you photograph?

To re-iterate: if you feel empty and lost in your life, perhaps you can turn to
photography to fulfill that spiritual need.

4. Follow the work of those who inspire you

We all gain inspiration from somebody else. Any photographer who says that
they aren’t inspired by anyone else is talking bullshit.

I also think this is why the philosophy of purposefully not looking at others’
work (not to corrupt your own work) is silly.

As human beings, we cannot exist in a vacuum. We need the work of others to

inspire us.

For Harry Callahan, he was first really moved by the work of Ansel Adams.
When Harry Callahan first saw Adams’ work this is what he said:
 “[Ansel Adams] showed his work, and it was all straight
photography — sharp and beautiful prints and everything
else, and that just completely set me free. And then both my
friend Todd and I were just … we just went all nuts on
photography. We really felt confident in ourselves and
everything else.”

Takeaway point:

Ansel Adams had a huge impact and influence on Harry Callahan. Adams’
inspired Harry to go out and shoot, and “go nuts on photography.” Furthermore,
a lot of Harry’s aesthetic sensibilities (wanting sharp and highly detailed
photographs) were inspired by Ansel Adams.

But although Harry was deeply inspired by Ansel Adams– both of their work
differed highly. Harry Callahan was mostly drawn to architecture, people, and
street scenes (in the city) while Ansel Adams was drawn mostly to nature.

Therefore what Harry Callahan did was gain inspiration from Ansel Adams in
terms of his working methods and technical details– but made work that was
genuine and authentic. Harry photographed whatever interested him, and
although he was inspired by Ansel Adams, he didn’t get caught up wanting to
replicate exactly what Ansel Adams did (in terms of subject matter).

So don’t feel any sort of guilt or anxiety of being a “copy-cat” of any other
photographers out there. Gain as much inspiration as you can from other
photographers– and perhaps when you’re starting off, directly try to imitate
them.

But the funny thing is that no matter how hard you try to imitate another
photographer– you will never be a perfect clone of them. Why not? Because you
are both different human beings, with different life experiences, and different
ways of looking at the world.

So go borrow the technical approach and working methods of another

photographer– but try to photograph subject matter that interests you.
Photograph what you are passionate about, and don’t let this silly nonsense of
being a “copycat” get in your way.

5. Have feelings in your photographs

As humans, we are an emotional creature. We aren’t robots– nobody out there is

purely “rational”.

In an interview, Harry Callahan was asked the following question:

“When something’s not working, when you look at a photograph,

what does it seem to lack?”

To that, Harry Callahan responded:

“It just has no feeling, no spirit to it at all.”

A street photograph without any emotion is dead.

A lot of psychologists have also recently shown that emotion is one of the
strongest triggers to memory. Therefore if you make an emotional street
photograph, you will also make a memorable street photograph.

Takeaway point:

When I’m shooting on the streets, I often look for emotion in my subjects. I look
for hand gestures, body language, and facial gestures that I can emotionally
relate to and feel empathetic towards.

Furthermore, I use the emotion of fear to know what is worth

photographing. Which means, when I see an interesting scene, I generally feel
afraid to photograph it. My stomach starts to churn, and I feel nervous. That is
the moment I know I have to make a photograph.

Also you can use emotions in the editing phase. When you’re looking through
your photos in Lightroom (or prints), look for the emotions. If a photograph
doesn’t bring a strong sense of emotion or “spirit” in them– perhaps you should
edit them out.

6. Process (or print) the way you want

When it comes to photography, there are a bazillion ways to process or print

your work.

In this field, how your photos “look” is highly subjective. Ultimately you want to
make your photos look the way you want them to look. There is no objectively
“right” way to make a “faithful” print. We all see the world differently (some of
us are colorblind) and ultimately we see the world in our own subjective way.

Harry Callahan shares how he prints depending on how he wants them to look–
and that there isn’t a “standard” way to do this:

“I may print it very contrasty or I may print it very soft. I don’t like
the idea that there’s supposed to be a standard way for a
print.”

Takeaway point:

I have my personal tastes in terms of what I think is aesthetically “beautiful” or

“pleasing.” For example, I hate low-contrast photos, selective-color photos, or
HDR photographs.

But ultimately that is my own “cup of tea.” For example, I love mint ice cream
but my girlfriend Cindy hates it. Does this mean that Cindy is somehow not an
ice cream connoisseur and has bad taste? Not at all. Our tastes are just different.
Some people like vanilla and some prefer chocolate. Some like both.

In photography some people prefer color, and some prefer black and white.
Some photographers prefer highly saturated colors, while others prefer more
muted colors. Some photographers prefer high-contrast black and whites, while
others like having more tones.
However you want to print or process your work, just follow your gut and heart.
Depict reality however you want it to look based on your post-processing or
printing process. Show your own subjective reality with the rest of the world,
and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

7. Do a “life’s photography”

I think in today’s digital world, we are so obsessed with speed. We want to get
things done quickly, and often we look in the short-term of things.

However what differs Harry Callahan from a lot of other photographers is that
he took the long approach– he wanted to dedicate his entire life to photography,
and didn’t concern himself with the short-term fads of his times.

Harry wanted to continue to learn more about himself as a human being

through photography – and to continue to learn more about photography itself.
He was constantly curious his entire life. He shares his motivation for
photography below:

“I want to do a life’s photography. And I want to grow in it and

I know that I learn more all the time, and I know that that has
something to do with it.”

Takeaway point:

Take the long approach in your photography, and see how you can create a body
of work that you will be happy about when you’re on your deathbed.

Don’t worry too much about the fads in photography. Follow what interests you,
and follow your own gut, intuition, and voice.

So when it comes to photography projects, don’t just think about days, weeks, or
months. Think years, think decades.

Live a life without regrets. Photograph what you are passionate about, what you
want to be remembered for, and photograph what you want to remember.
Make your photography personal, and be happy, jolly, keep learning, and push
your photography. Don’t stop learning, don’t stop growing, and don’t stop
evolving. Stay curious to the very end.

Sources

INTERVIEW: “Harry M. Callahan Interview, February 13, 1975″

Harry Callahan Retrospective Book

Books by Harry Callahan

Harry Callahan Restrospective ~ $45 USD (highly recommend this book)

Harry Callahan At Work ~ $54 (a great book if you want to learn more
about the working methods of Harry Callahan)

Photographers similar to Harry Callahan

If you like the work of Harry Callahan, I recommend learning more from these
masters below:

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Andre Kertesz
Saul Leiter
Walker Evans