Samuel Barber, New York after 1955

Gordon Parks made this black and white photograph of Samuel Barber in New York. I love the tonal range of the image, it seems to pick up the light in the way that painting does, almost as if it was built up in layers. Barber is caught looking to the side, towards us, with his lips pursed, in front of a large-scale backdrop of a lightning storm. To the right of the frame, Parks includes a cascading ivy plant, positioned on a shelf in front of a dark, flat surface. There’s a stark contrast between Barber’s soft skin, the smooth paper he holds, and the roughly textured foliage. It's as if the image is picking up on those dichotomies that appear in Barber’s work, between tradition and modernity, between romance and brutality. Parks was a master of using light and shadow to create mood and depth, something we also see in the work of Irving Penn. These photographers shared a collaborative, experimental approach, using unconventional settings and props to capture the essence of their subjects. Like a painter, Parks composes the image so that the different elements add up to a feeling.