Photographers I Like: Vincent Laforet

It seems that a lot of the "big names" in the photographic art world have been around for a while. Everyone knows Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Arnold Newman, Richard Avedon, etc., and I certainly love their art, but today I was reminded yet again of the work of a currently producing, fantastic photographic artist. Vincent Laforet is definitely not a small name, but I just wanted to draw some attention to his photos. I actually remember the first time I saw one of his pictures and wanted to know who took it. It was a photo of Bryant Park from the front page of The New York Times on a warm April day in 2002, entitled "Bryant Park, New York - 2002".

What grabbed me about the picture was how perfectly head on all the people were and how they filled the frame, but still appeared small. It appeared as if we were the sky and there was nothing between us and those people on the grass. Not only did I love the photo, I actually took a moment to look up Mr. Laforet's e-mail address and send him a note, which I never, ever do. He was kind enough to respond, letting me in on the info that the spectacular Bryant Park image "was shot with a Canon EOS 1D digital camera with a 200mm lens from the roof of the Verizon building, 42 stories up."

I just came across his slideshow (with narration) from the May 31 New York Times Magazine where Mr. Laforet took photos at sporting events using a tilt-shift lens. I'm not going to get into the technical aspects of the lens because to me this is clearly a case of yes, certain equipment had to be used, but the photographer is the whole reason these images exist. I think the final photographs are just stunning. Take a look at Mr. Laforet's slideshow "A Really Big Show". If you like these examples of his work as much as I do, his very extensive body of work can be found on his site http://www.laforetvisuals.com/.