Every artist looks for a goal to strive for. As a photographer, I look for something to inspire my own work. I enjoy going to other photographers’ lectures because these artists, such as Elinor Carucci, serve as professional and experienced mentors to encourage me to find and reach these aspirations.

Carucci spoke last night at Light Work Community Darkrooms about her career, telling stories and showing examples of her work. From the first image she presented, a closely cropped face painted completely in white, all but deep red painted lips, I was intrigued by her style. The closeness of the image forced me to look at every wrinkle and every line of the woman’s face. This intricate examination of the photographs would be a continuing theme of the night.

The photographer, Carucci, was born in Israel and raised in Jerusalem. For me, her noticeable accent was a foreshadowing of the cultural difference her work illustrates. Carucci started to photograph her family at the young age of 15, and began her lecture by explaining how her involvement and love of photography evolved.

‘Before I loved any man, I loved photography,’ Carucci said.

Carucci’s family, primarily her mother, became the defining factor of her fine art photography and the beginnings of her career as a professional photographer.

It was not blatantly evident in her photographs, but she explained to the listeners the timidness she felt in the beginning stages of her career, and how reluctant she was in even calling herself a ‘professional’ photographer.

‘She highlighted the moments of panic, and it reassured me that that’s OK,’ said Anne Robinson, a junior art photography major.

Carucci displayed her photographs on the large projection. The abundant, intimate color images of her family and husband immediately illustrated the closeness between them. One of the most intriguing aspects of her work was the use of bold, solid color which appeared in almost every photo, which marked a reflection of her cultural influences.

The closeness she shows with her family photos, whether they are snapshots or skillfully posed, all gave a sense of intimacy that seems to involve the camera and the subjects together. Many of her images reveal her family members and, many times, herself as nude or partially naked, which exemplifies her comfort with herself and with those around her. This is also was a way for her to openly demonstrate to the viewer who she is and the ones who influence her work.

Carucci uses the camera as a way for her to understand and define who she is at that moment. She explained her initial move to New York City as a time when she felt understandably disconnected. She had only known the successes and comfort of photographing people family to her.

She created a series involving extreme close shots using a Macro lens, which allows the photographer to get an extreme close-up with the subject. She was intrigued with the markings and imprints on the body. Her commercial work often reflected this. Carucci used this lens in her editorial photographs which created such a narrow depth of field, it obscured the actual part of the body it was on. But seeing the way it was presented in the magazine, or even enlarged onto the sides of trolleys and busses, gave it much more context for me as an image. Her commercial photography demonstrated her professionalism as well as her success in making photography a career, although her stories always seemed to reflect something about the past in some way.

As she explained each of her memories in the images of her family, Carucci had the look of true bliss on her face. For the audience members who took notice, it was obvious her family was the only subject she would never be bored photographing.

As a young photographer myself, I found this to be interesting and inspiring. Elinor Carucci found the one subject she will always be able to go back to. Even though her talents as a commercial photographer will remain her primary source of income, she will always be able to go home and find new ways of capturing her own moments and define her own sense of self. I would imagine this is the goal every photographer wishes he or she could reach.

Published on February 7, 2006 at 12:00 pm