Sophie Calle - Whitechapel Gallery

I went to Whitechapel Gallery in London over the weekend, to see the free Sophie Calle exhibition (always one for a bargian me) Sophie Calle was one of the photographers, along with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Annie Liebowitz. Greatly influential on my style, as well as my respect for the capabilities of photography, it was amazing to see Calle's work in place and arranged.

One piece in particular was of a camera Calle had set up at a cash point, simply taking photos of them as they assessed their financial state. Normally a very private experience, Calle was able to capture emotions not widely displayed. Obviously this was not a record of exactly how much money the people possessed, but it showed emotions such as anger, sadness, happiness, rage, joy, elation and surprise. It was the intimacy of the portraits that shocked me. That Calle could be so close and observe each detail of the persons face, with poor quality security camera stills, and speak to fluently about the actions and emotions displayed. I have always thought that human emotion is the hardest thing to capture, because it is not something that is displayed over minutes or hours, but in split seconds, and to truly identify that in a single photograph is a skill that i desire very much. Truly an amazing exhibition and a wonderful photographer.