I regret to inform you that photographer Sam Tata passed away a few days
ago in British-Columbia at the age of 94.
Perhaps some of you knew (of) him and his work. Born in Shanghai in 1911,
he was a socially concerned photographer and a close friend of
Cartier-Bresson with whom he worked in China. He moved to Montreal in 1956
where he continued to do social documentaries and portraiture of art and
literary world figures.
He wrote the following on making a good portrait, which I think is worth
keeping:
"I have a three part recipe on how to take a good portrait: the sitter has
to
agree to be photographed, the photographer has to have a distinct
sensibility and thirdly, the photographer has to have a rapport with his
subjects...
"...The photographer cannot be self-conscious; it will give him a
self-conscious portrait...
"...In the final essense, the photographer must get his sitters to trust
him,
to show that he is not a threat but only a mirror, a reflection. When I
take a photograph of somebody, a small percentage of that photograph
represents me, because after all the sitters are reacting to me."
Regards,
Guy
