I’ve been looking for good fashion editorials like standing at the newsstands is my job, but there’s not much out right now, and indeed I can hardly complain since I haven’t shot any editorial since Dec either… So, instead, I want to send out an appreciatory note to the better than good photographer Bruce Davidson (w/ Magnum and w/ Art Dept), b/c work like his has a great effect on me, b/c work like his matters.

There’s something about Davidson’s work that is aesthetically understated, technically excellent no doubt, but even so it doesn’t have a signature look, a giveaway affect, not like say the harshness of Koudelka or the smoothness of Friedlander or the expose for the highlights school of a lot of the young guys (Majoli, Pellegrin). No, Davidson’s signature is content. Simple, and yet nearly impossible to do. His photographs are about what is taking place within the frame, and he doesn’t allow himself anything to distract from this. B/c he doesn’t need to.

photo: from Brooklyn Gang, ©Bruce Davidson.

photo: from East 100th St., ©Bruce Davidson.

photo: from Subway, ©Bruce Davidson.