Brassaï was a Hungarian-French photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker from the 1900’s. He studied painting and sculpture at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts and cites Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as a large influence in his work. In addition to art, Brassaï was also a journalist.

A large part of Brassaï’s work that interests me is his ability to capture intimate moments. He has several pieces of work that capture couples kissing, and they are unaware of his presence and the camera capturing the scene. His work has two other common themes– night time photography and artificial lighting. I want to include these three elements into my own work. I want to capture portraits of people in natural and candid scenes to show their innocence and vulnerabilities. However, instead of using flash setups in the studio, I want to use sources of light from the environment.

Couple in a Cafe, near the place d’Italie, 1932

Untitled, Unknown Year