Yousef Karsh
Yousef (Josef) Karsh, also known as Karsh of Ottawa, was a portrait photographer responsible for some of the most famous portraits ever taken. He, in fact, made over 15,000 portraits during his career as a photographer. While the man led a long, 93-year life (1908-2002), his artistic talents were recognized early. By the age of 20 his family arranged for him to apprentice with a portrait photographer. As a side note, his brother was also a professional photographer. The subjects of Yousef’s photos were often famous people, including Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and Andy Warhol (see below). In fact, of the 100 most notable people of the century, named by the International Who’s Who 2000, Karsh had photographed 51.
Karsh took his pictures in black and white. He often shot his subject from the waist up, or higher, taking the pictures at an angle to the person. As a result, he deliberately had his subjects stare slightly off-center. Karsh was a master of light, often using theatrical lights, and style. He frequently lit the faces and hands of his subjects separately. In this way, his pictures were dramatic, rich in light and shadow. Karsh was able to glorify his subjects by giving them a sense of power. The sheer size of the photos helped him to do this, as he enjoyed working with large format cameras. It has been said that Karsh “transforms the human face into legend”.
