In The Street

I have no idea what Milk Made Magazine is, but they gave a model named Leila Spilman to five photographers and had each one shoot her however they wanted. The whole concept is just another way to build portfolios, let people see the same subject through different eyes.

There’s one series that actually works though: In The Street by Brad Elterman. Black and white, natural light, no art direction. It’s the only one where she looks like an actual person instead of a styling exercise.

Most photography loads up on technique like the technique is what matters. Color grading, retouching, conceptual framing, all of it applied with the assumption that if you use enough craft you’ll make something meaningful. Usually just deadens what’s there. The Elterman shots don’t have anywhere to hide behind that apparatus. Either they work or they don’t, and something about that simplicity works. There’s no artifice between you and the actual photograph.

Obviously I’m not pretending I’m attracted to the intellectual side here. She’s beautiful, young, she photographs well. But what keeps pulling me back to these shots is that they feel true in a way the rest of the series doesn’t. Everything else is someone being styled into importance. These are just someone, photographed.