Helen Levitt

The summer of my junior year in high school. I signed up for this photography class at Columbia College Chicago. It was apart of the high school summer institute program. For several weeks Columbia was filled with artsy high school kids from across the nation taking all sorts of fun classes. It was a lot of fun.
I cant remember my instructors name,but she introduced me to Helen's work.
I was big into street photography in high school, and children. My teacher thought I would enjoy her work. She was right!. Helen documented street life, but there were tons of kid pictures and each one of them were amazing.

Since that summer I have always been in love with the work of Helen Levitt. Her work was very raw, and exciting. Even though the images were simple and beautiful. There was always something going on. I wanted to be in her images. The kids in her pictures were always up to something. Each time I look at one of her pictures, it puts a smile on my face.

I learned from Helen's work. That you are suppose to have fun when you shoot and always



Helen was 95. So she had a long life. Its still sad though.

The blog of NPR has a nice piece about her, and an interview too. Check it out here
RIP Helen. You were the bees knees

The pictures above are some of my favorites from Helen

Thanks unknown photo teacher for telling me about her :)