"Winogrand 1964," a photograph collection by Garry Winogrand (1938-1984) that displays everyday life of people around the country in 1964, is on display at the Smithsonian International Gallery until Nov. 28.
The collection features mainly black-and-white photographs, as well as some in color. Winogrand traveled the country to candidly capture on film the uniqueness of each place he visited.
The photographs are untitled, with only the place where they were taken listed.
In this collection, Winogrand captured everyday life in a unique way by candidly shooting ordinary people, things and events, and turning them into something worth looking at. By using maximum depth of field in many of his photographs, Winogrand not only captured the expression and actions of the people closest to the camera, but also what was going on around them. He portrayed the essence of life by putting himself in the situation through candid use of his camera.
In one of his New York photos, for example, Winogrand focused on Grand Central Station. The viewer's eye is drawn directly toward a group of men, all facing away from the camera, looking down at the people passing below them. They are looking at others as the viewer is looking at them, so viewers feel they are in the setting. In the background, the details of Grand Central Station are shown. Only natural lighting is used, and the sunlight shining through the large windows in the background is clearly visible. The details of the building, including the bricks that it is made out of, are shown in order to make the photo seem more lifelike.
Because Winogrand captured life from many different angles, his pictures seem very realistic. Some of the most interesting photos are taken through glass. In one particularly remarkable color photo taken at Lake Tahoe, Nev. Winogrand shot from the parking lot of a hotel, showing part of a parked car, and then through a glass wall. This intricate process shows myriad people swimming in the hotel's pool and relaxing on its deck. He used a high shutter speed, capturing splashing water in the pool and the movement of the people around the deck. This makes the picture seem very lifelike, as if viewers are seeing it from the parking lot themselves.
Another thing of note is that Winogrand uses people in almost all of his pictures. He likes to show that there is life in his photos, so even when he is emphasizing the beauty of nature - such as in his pictures from California - people are used in the far background.
Overall, the collection is enjoyable to view because Winogrand carefully expressed details in his photos. Whether it was a person's expression or the water splashing in a pool, Winogrand wanted to make his photos feel as real as possible. He was candid and showed life happening around him. He captured his subject's expression and mood, and also the surroundings with careful detail. Nothing seemed set up, yet everything seemed to fit right in place.
