Elliott Erwitt, the photojournalist and filmmaker who wryly documented the minutiae of American life for over six decades, has died at 95.

According to the caption accompanying a photo shared on his official Instagram account, Erwitt “passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family.”

Erwitt was known for taking serendipitous black-and-white images captured on city streets, as well as pictures of public figures, including former US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and celebrities Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Erwitt’s humanistic approach to reportage landed him regular work for influential US magazines as well for international publications and tourism boards. He was a longtime member of the agency Magnum Photos, as well as its president for three years in the 1960s.

“It is hard to measure the impact that Elliott Erwitt has had on Magnum and the world of photography,” the agency’s current president, Cristina de Middel, wrote in a remembrance shared Thursday. His images have helped build our general understanding of who we are as a society and as humans, and have inspired generations of photographers despite the changes in the industry and trends.”

“The combination of his casual and humoristic approach to the act of photographing, and his obsessive dedication, made him a unique artist that we have lost today with great sadness,” de Middel added.

Born Elio Romano Erwitz in Paris on July 26, 1928, Erwitt spent his early childhood in Milan. His family was of Russian-Jewish descent, and they left Europe for the US in 1939 just before World War II began. They settled in Los Angeles, where Erwitt eventually took studio photography classes at Los Angeles City College. He moved to New York City in 1948 and worked as a janitor at the New School for Social Research in exchange for enrollment into film courses there, according to Magnum Photos. In 1951, he was drafted into the US Army and took on photography duties while stationed in Europe. In Paris, he visited the Magnum Photos office and met Robert Capa, the renowned war photographer, who later invited him to join the group.

Erwitt’s first major body of work, shot when he was 22 years old, wasn’t seen in full until 2018, through the exhibition “Elliott Erwitt: Pittsburgh 1950” at the International Center of Photography in New York. Erwitt took the photographs around the city of Pittsburgh, having been assigned by Roy Stryker, the former head of the US Farm Security Administration, whose commissions to photographers like Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks resulted in some of the century’s most famous images.

This assignment, from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, intended to show the industrial city in a new, modern light through the eyes of a cohort of contemporary photographers. Erwitt took interest in human stories, particularly those of Pittsburgh’s children, but he and the other photographers working on the project delivered thousands of images in total, and many of Erwitt’s negatives weren’t used. They were instead kept in Stryker’s archive, unseen for decades.

On his approach to photography, Erwitt has widely been quoted as saying, “It’s about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy.”

Over the course of his career, Erwitt keenly observed the closed-door events that shaped history, from the swanky fêtes of the social elite — like Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel in 1966 — to tense political moments on the world stage.

One of Erwitt’s most famous images, from 1959, depicts then-US Vice President Richard Nixon jabbing a finger into the chest of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev while in Moscow at the opening of the American National Exhibition, a six-week diplomacy effort during the Cold War that introduced Russians to American mid-century art, design and appliances. The two leaders were engaged in an impromptu fiery argument that began over a model of an American kitchen (later dubbed the “Kitchen Debate”). Elliot was on a commercial assignment at the show, he later recounted in the book “Contact Sheet,” explaining: “I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.”

But many of his other most-celebrated pictures are lyrical or tongue-in-cheek photos of everyday life: a silhouetted image of a man leaping with an umbrella in front of the Eiffel Tower; a woman sitting on a New York City stoop with two bulldogs, angled so that the dog in her lap appears to have human limbs.

Erwitt had a particular affinity for photographing dogs, in fact, releasing five books dedicated to the subject.

“I take a lot of pictures of dogs because I like dogs, because they don’t object to being photographed, and because they don’t ask for prints,” he once offered as an explanation.

Erwitt also made a number of documentary films, as well as 18 comedies for HBO in the 1980s and released monographs including 1965’s “Improbable Photographs” and 1989’s “Personal Exposures.” In 2015, the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, acquired his photography collection spanning 1946-2010, which totals nearly 50,000 prints. A year later, the center opened the retrospective “Around the World” based on the collection.

This is one of my most favourite test shoots I’ve done to this date, not only based on how we got the shot but also how they turned out. Here’s how we shot it, how it was lit, and everything that came together to make this shot happen.

The subject for this shoot was a very good friend of mine and super talented model Ash Kalyn. We’ve worked together quite a few times, and it’s always a blast. The photos you’re seeing were taken on a farm where there’s a ski hill in the background illuminating some of the snow. This also allowed for beautiful bokeh to be behind Ash’s head, creating more depth in the background.

I have to commend Ash for this, as it was -21 degrees Celsius at the time (-5.8 Fahrenheit for readers in the US). Suffice to say, it was cold. As I always come prepared, we had a warm-up vehicle off to the side so she could keep warm between setups and shots. It helped that she was able to have a thick parka on for the shots as well. Fortunately, I layered up to an insane degree, so I was mostly fine the entire time. Looking at this realistically, could I have shot this in the studio? Honestly, yeah. Sure, it would have taken more work in post to make it feel authentic, but it could be done. For example, I’d have had to put little lights in the background to throw out of focus or add them in post, as well as adding a hint of white in the background to give the idea that snow was on the ground. Lastly, I’d have had to add in the breath. It would be more work, but still doable. Even with that in mind, I actually wouldn’t have shot these differently because we were safe and prepared about it. Even though it was cold, everyone was being taken care of, and we’d warm up the moment anyone started feeling really cold. It ended up being a really great time and enjoyable for everyone.

Now, the lighting is really what helped to make this stand out, so let’s break it down. This was ultimately a three-light setup (minus the ski hill lights in the background). For my key, I was using a Godox AD600 into a 36” octabox placed pretty close to Ash. I like to build up my lighting setups personally, so I started with that, and I noticed her balaclava and coat faded into the background, and you couldn’t make out any detail. The ski hill lights were great for bokeh and illuminating a bit of the snow far off in the background but really didn’t serve to separate the subject from the background. To fix this, I put a second Godox AD600 with a 7” reflector on it on the camera right side behind Ash to give her a rim light, separating her left side from the background. But it still wasn’t quite enough to do what I needed. The all-black look was fantastic, but when you’re shooting at night, you need a lot of light to separate your subject from the background; otherwise, you just get a big black blob. To solve this, I raised a 2’ long Nanlite Pavotube set to daylight (matching the Godox) lengthwise over her head to act as a hair light, thus separating the balaclava from the background.

Now, if you read carefully, you realize I’m mixing two strobe lights with a constant light at night in a very dark environment. You would be correct, at least at first. The Godox lights are great because of how they can be quite powerful for a decent size. The issue occurs in that even at their lowest power setting, they are still way too bright to work for this shot. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, to have Ash properly exposed, I would have had to darken past the point of having any ambience from the environment or even the lights in the background (they would be barely visible). Secondly, I know what you’re thinking – yes, I could move them further back. But I wanted a really soft, flattering light on her face from the octabox, meaning moving the key farther back would make the light harsher and would no longer work for the shot. The other option would be to add ND gel or extra layers of diffusion, which in my much larger kit I do have, but unfortunately didn’t have in this particular circumstance.

Even with all that, I still did have a solution – a bit of an unconventional solution, but one nonetheless. The Godox have a three-increment modeling LED lamp inside them. Now, it’s not really bright enough for a majority of applications – I wouldn’t really use it as a video light unless you were in a pinch and needed an accent. That said, however, when you’re in an otherwise very dark setting, they can be quite bright. Enough to even compete with the tube light.

So, that’s exactly what I did. I had each strobe with the modeling lamp set to its highest setting, the Pavotube’s brightness level adjusted to match, and with a shallow aperture, these shots are the result. The other benefit is that the tube and rim lights acted as a backlight for Ash’s breath, so what you’re seeing is what was naturally captured in-camera.

This ultimately became a test of using your gear in slightly unconventional ways to get the result you want. Sometimes as photographers we have the right tool for the job, and sometimes we have to make it work. In this instance, I love the way we made it work because it came out better than how I had envisioned. I’ve always loved a challenge, and from the location to the weather to the light, there were challenges abound, but we pushed on, stayed positive, and came away with a solid set of images to boot. So, I would use this as a way to remind yourself that even in less than ideal circumstances, with a little creativity, you can still come out on top.

MADISON, Wis. – Whenever the northern lights are visible in Wisconsin, people do their best to get a look. It’s not always easy, though.

Sam Warfel had always been interested in photography. A few years ago, he fell in love with the aurora borealis.

“I had never even thought you could see it from this far south, I thought that was an Alaska/Canada thing,” he said. “But you can!”

He’s now studying astronomy and the auroras at UW-Madison. His dream is to end up in Fairbanks, Alaska, where viewing is the best in America.

“It took me a year and a half before I saw it myself for the first time,” Warfel said. “It took a while, but I got there!”

It’s been a good year for seeing the auroras. He does it mostly from the Madison area.

“We had the two strongest storms we’ve had in a decade or more,” he said. “Bright aurora that I could see with the naked eye, almost right overhead.”

Warfel said it’s easier to see the lights through a camera lens than with the naked eye. He said even a smartphone will do.

“Modern smartphones have such good cameras that they can take pretty good pictures of the aurora,” he said. “Not quite as nice as professional cameras, but the best camera is the one you have!”

Finding a good spot is key. He recommends somewhere with a wide view of the horizon, and no light pollution. Being outside cities is a must. It can also take time for the eye to adjust to the pure darkness.

Even though Warfel has seen the lights quite a few times now, they never lose their magic.

“It changes, and dances, and moves,” he said. “You watch, and you go ‘oooh look at that!’ ‘Oooh look at that!’ It’s a show that keeps you staring at it.”

For more information on the storm and viewing information in Wisconsin, click here.

Elliott Erwitt, the photographer of American life, political history, starlets and humor, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan, his daughter Sasha confirmed to the New York Times. He was 95.

Over a remarkably varied, peripatetic career spanning more than 70 years, Erwitt captured numerous famous images, ranging from the somber (Jacqueline Kennedy clutching the flag from her husband’s coffin at his funeral) to the glamorous (Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich) to the absurd (a glowing Coca-Cola machine amid a display of missiles in Alabama). Originally a photojournalist, Erwitt published more than 20 books during his lifetime and starred in numerous solo exhibitions at such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and the Barbican in London.

He is also known for his many witty photographs of dogs, often from their perspective and distinct from their owners, in such books as Son of Bitch, To the Dogs and Woof.

Erwitt never specialized and worked as a freelancer throughout his life, taking on assignments in fashion, politics and celebrity (one of his most famous images is of the then vice-president Richard Nixon poking the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in the chest in 1959, during the so-called “Kitchen Debate” at a Moscow exhibition of American products). Some of his more recognizable work came from exploring New York, where he lived, on the Upper West Side, for 60 years. Erwitt photographed the city with a sense of adventure and spontaneity, living by his famous adage: “The best things happen when you just happen to be somewhere with a camera.”

Erwitt worked into his 90s, and was ever practical about his art. “Photography is pretty simple stuff. You just react to what you see, and take many, many pictures,” he told the Guardian in 2020, at the age of 92 and on the occasion of a new project to use one of his famous black-and-white photos, of a pair of plastic gloves hanging from a clothesline, in a campaign to raise awareness for protective equipment for healthcare workers.

Elio Romano Ervitz was born 26 July, 1928 in Paris, the son of Boris, a Russian Orthodox Jew and his wife Eugenia (Trepel) Erwitt, who both fled Russia for France after the 1917 Revolution. The family moved often – first to Italy, then back to France when Mussolini’s regime grew too intolerable, then to the United States in 1939, just days before the second world war began.

Boris became a salesman, and brought his son, then going by the Anglicized name Elliott Erwitt, along from New York to Los Angeles in 1941, selling wristwatches in small towns to pay their way. In LA, Erwitt began to develop his interest in photography, which he credited to his shyness. He began taking photos at 16 with an antique glass-plate camera, then upgraded to a Rolleiflex.

After graduating from Hollywood high school, he studied photography at Los Angeles City College and got a job in a commercial darkroom. He returned to New York in 1949 and began his professional career before the army drafted him in 1951 for the Korean war. While stationed with an Army Signal Corps unit in France, he took a picture of soldiers killing time in the barracks that, by his own account, changed his life. The photo won a Life Magazine contest, getting him published and netting a $2,500 check.

Erwitt was married and divorced four times, to Lucienne Van Kan (1953 to 1960), Diana Dann (1967 to 1974), Susan Ringo (1977 to 1984) and Pia Frankenberg (1998 to 2012). He is survived by his six children, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.