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Porter's Early Years |
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Porter's
Introduction to Photography |
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A
Love for Science |
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Committing
to a Career in Art |
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Committing
to a Career in Art
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| Porter returned to photography
as a hobby after finishing medical school and soon became more interested
in taking pictures than working in the laboratory. He was skilled at black-and-white
photography and focused on a variety of subjects. In 1934 Porter's brother,
Fairfield, a painter, arranged for him to meet Alfred Stieglitz, a famous
New York City gallery owner, photographer, and arts promoter. At their
first meeting, Stieglitz was not terribly impressed with Porter's work,
but encouraged him to continue. Porter worked hard to improve his images
and skills and continued to seek advice from Stieglitz. |
Porter then purchased a new view
camera that allowed him to take detailed images. In 1938, after showing
some of his newest view camera photographs to Stieglitz, the gallery owner
finally told Porter, “You have arrived, I want to show these.”
He offered the young photographer an exhibition at his gallery. For Porter,
this was a momentous occasion:
"To have work exhibited at An American Place [Stieglitz’s
gallery] was an honor that overwhelmed me. Under the stimulus
of this recognition I realized at last that I must make the break with
science.”
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With this exhibition, Porter quit medical
research to become a full-time photographer. Soon thereafter, he turned
from black-and-white photography to the new color photography medium.
Many photographers of the time thought that color was difficult and
could not express emotions or moods. Porter thought otherwise and became
one of the first expert color photographers. Starting with birds, then
images of other nature subjects, he spent more than forty years shooting
color photographs – first near his home and later throughout the world.
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