Photography
One of the most striking photos on photographer Shayan Asgharnia’s website is of a prisoner with his back turned to the camera. One of his hands is laced around his wrist as if it were a handcuff and the other holds a dog’s leash. Recently, Asgharnia’s series Rescued featured the participants of Marley’s Mutt Pawsitive Change, a program that asks select prisoners to take care of rescued dogs.
If this brilliant Detroit photographer never laid eyes on the exhibit of the legendary French photographer Henri Cartier- Bresson, photography as we know it would be much different. Bill Rauhauser is known for his classic black-and-white photographs that captured the significant beauty and simple elegance of Detroit throughout several decades. Prior to seeing Cartier-Bresson exhibit, Rauhauser had no idea that his hobby of taking photographs could turn into a full blown career.
His photographs over the decades depict the simple moments in Detroit life. Whether it is a photo of a woman gazing off to the side as she enjoys a cigarette on an outside Detroit plaza while wearing a lavish peacoat and string of pearls, or a photo of pedestrians walking across a street with their heads intently focused on what’s in front of them as a young boy accompanies them with a balloon in his hand, Rauhauser’s photographs show us that, as a society, we often don’t notice simple moments the world presents to us.
