Ben Edwards

Photographer Report

1) Yousuf Karsh

2)1908-2002

3)Yousuf Karsh grew up through the Armenian Genocide, he saw many of his relatives die. His parents sent him to Quebec, Canada to live with his uncle and keep him safe from the genocide. In Canada Yousuf assisted in his uncle's studio were his future as a photographer was born. Karsh's uncle saw great potential in his nephew and arranged a internship with portrait photographer John Garo. After the internship Karsh returned to Canada and created his own studio in Ottawa, Ontario. Here the Prime Minister of Canada, Mackenzie King took notice of Karsh and hired him to take photos of him. This attracted many celebrities to Karsh including Winston Churchill, creating Karsh's fame.

4)Yousuf Karsh is best known for his portrait photography and his best know work was his image of Winston Churchill which was claimed to be the most reproduced photo of any individual today. The concept for Yousuf is to capture to not only the person but the mood and emotion. For example when Yousuf photographed Churchill, before the photo was taken Churchill took out a cigar and begin to indulge in it, Yousuf held out a ashtray but Churchill refused. Eventually Yousuf walked over to Churchill said "Excuse me, sir" and snatched the cigar out of his mouth and took the photo at that moment capturing Churchill in as less then favorable mood. Yousulf, for his generation pushed the limits on portrait photography.

5)The most difficult project i have done so far was portrait photography giving me a great respect for Yousulf's talent and skill. Everything was perfect, the lighting, the setting, the person, and the picture. His portraits did everything i wanted my photos and he was using a film camera. I find Yousulf's work outstanding, epically for his generation. He does a great job of capturing the mood and emotion as well as the person.