William Claxton was most noted for his photography of jazz musicians and he also photographed celebrities and models. He has photographed the famous as well as his family and friends. “Above all, my work is about friendship.” I realize that the photography world is heavily based in who you do and do not know. This statement helps summarize it all very simply. When he photographs people he is often photographing his friends, and his subjects often become his friends. This is something that I defiantly need to work on to keep connections throughout the art world.
His portraits are a demonstration of the beauty he sees in people. “I hate ugly pictures of anybody. I am dedicated to beauty. I know there is a beauty in all kinds of human beings. So, the act of finding and capturing that beauty is relatively easy for me. I am happiest when I can create a beautiful and poignant image of a subject.” I always try to find the beauty within somebody. I do not believe that somebody has to be physically appealing to hold that something special that the world wants to gaze upon. His style of portraiture is fairly simple and highly dependant on natural light, something that I want to perfect because I feel as if natural light brings out the subjects natural beauty.
As a young boy Claxton began with a Brownie box camera and a fascination with music gained from his father’s collection of big-band records. Before long, he was haunting jazz clubs in Los Angeles, wearing one of his father’s suits to avoid being asked for his ID, and always carrying a camera.Because Claxton started off so heavily based in the jazz world, he notes that is photography hadn’t caught his eye at such a young age he would have become a happy musician. Claxton says that “photography is jazz for the eyes. All I ask you to do is listen with your eyes.”
Website:
http://www.williamclaxton.com/noflash.html
Interview:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0103/claxton_intro.htm
Gallery:
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/claxton.htm
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