Clarence John Laughlin

A dream of Pearls

Women Reflected in a Mirror

The Strange Sisters

Basic Information:
Clarence John Laughlin was born 1905 and died on January 2, 1985. He was an american photographer, best known for his surrealist photographs of the U.S. South. Laughlin was born into a middle class family in Lake Charles, Louisiana. His rocky childhood, southern heritage, and his interest in literature influenced his work. As a kid, he had a close relationship with his father. When his father died in 1918, his grief over the lose was very overwhelming. He began to have a deep suspicion of religion when his priest falsely promised that God would save his ailing parent if he prayed hard enough. His suspicion surfaced his most frequent works. Even though he dropped out in high school, his large vocabulary and love for literature were used for captions to accompany his photography. Laughlin discovered photography when he was 25 years old. He taught himself the basic camera skills, using a simple 2 1/2 by 1/4 view camera. He had a wide range of photographic styles and techniques including capturing straightforward geometric abstractions.

His work:

His work contains many elements of surrealism. Laughlin was actually credited to be the first surrealist in the US. His images are often found to be nostalgic. His best book, "Ghosts Alng the Mississippi." was first published in 1948. "Ghosts Along the Mississippi" is a book full of Laughlin's best pictures of the south. However, the public didn't like his photograghy back then. He had many criticizes and negative views. This was because his work often captured disturbing sense of self-righteousness, the evil and poverty that he saw in the world. Throughout his work, he had associates, which included photographers Minor White, Wynn Bullock, and Edward Weston. He died on January 2, 1985. He left behind a huge collection of books and images.

American Photography

a century of images....

From watching the film American Photography, 

I've learn a great deal about photography. Pictures back then were personal memories, and showed new places to people, and it still does today. Before, cameras were only owned by the wealthy. People had their pictures only taken once or twice in their life. Then, cameras were changed so that anyone could get their hands on one. There were many evolutions of different cameras, such as an old vintage camera, or those big shutter cameras that you would usually see a reporter in the movies holding. Pictures  were shown all over the world in different ways. They were in magazines,books, newspaper, and even adds. National Geographic magazine was the first magazine to ever have pictures in it. Life magazine was the biggest selling magazine hit, thanks to the help of photos. Daily News, which began in 1919, is the oldest newspaper. It provided news for everyone through the pictures people wanted to see. You can't believe news without seeing it with your own eyes. Pictures are used to attract attention as well, and they were often used for advertisement for selling products. In 1935, pictures were created so that they could be sent by wires. Photo's made the world one community.