「Look at the Picture and Talk about the Painting」Sergio Larrain, the poetic aesthetics of wanderer

He is a wealthy second-generation Chilean with a golden upbringing, but he is a “wanderer” in the world of photography – Sergio Larrain’s “wanderings”, not geographical migration, but absolute freedom of the soul and creation. He said: “A good photograph, or any other form of human expression, stems from a kind of grace”, and this grace is the core of cross-cultural aesthetics.

He inherited the documentary core of “the decisive moment” from Henri Cartier-Bresson, while also incorporating the magical realist genes of South America. The vertical composition elongates the sense of depth in the space, the low angle captures perspectives that ordinary people overlook, and with rare shadows and blank spaces in the picture, he uses light and obstacles to create a sense of depth, giving the plain record an extra-surreal tension. The social portraits of London after the Industrial Revolution and the expressions of homeless children in San Diego, in his lens, have both the temperature of documentary and the mystery of poetry.

Sergio Larrain broke the rigid pattern of media images, and also transcended the artificial boundaries between documentary and poetry, between tradition and innovation. With his unique shooting language, he proved that documentary photography could break away from the conventional norms without losing its elegance, becoming a free expression after breaking free from constraints. This also made him a visual model of documentary photography.

The tea for today is all gone. Next time, I’ll brew a fresh pot and enjoy art with you again.