Muses: Harry and Eleanor Callahan
After graduating high school in June of 2006, I headed to Vermont to study biology at the University of Vermont. While at UVM, I found myself walking around campus with a profound interest in the world that surrounded in all directions. I was more interested in photographically smelling, feeling, and seeing the world than burying my head in a book. I spent 1 semester at UVM and then left to pursue these interests.
I was first introduced to the work of Harry Callahan by Kate Izor, good friend and Photography Program Manager at the Maine Media Workshops. Kate and I became companions through an intense, 11-week Photo II class at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Kate was my TA and I was her student.
A deep connection immediately began to emerge between the photographs Harry Callahan had made and how I viewed the world.
Since that day I have had a vested interest in Harry’s work and I often find myself searching for his photographs, books, quotes, interviews, and articles.
Tonight I stumbled across a New York Times interview regarding the photographs he made of his wife, Eleanor.
“I never refused when he wanted to take a picture,” said Eleanor Callahan, the 91-year-old widow of the photographer Harry Callahan. “I never complained, whatever I was doing. If he said: ‘Come quick, Eleanor — there’s a good light,’ I was right there.”
Read the rest of the interview here.
What other photographer’s have had photographic muses? I am curious. Post a comment.
