David Whitman:::Photography

• I love your site! The article “Yellow is the color of my Brazil” is a real delight. Your love for, pleasure in, wonder of, and joy in Brazil come through your writing, just as they do in your photographs from there. It does what the best travel writing should do, makes the reader want to be there, to see the country as you see it, experience the magic you know and a little of which you have shared with the reader. The photos complement the text, all the while hinting at wonders just beyond the frame. It is a great introduction to both you and your work.

• A primeira vez que vi as fotos de David Whitman eu achava que ele era brasileiro e fiquei encantado com a forma que ele tinha de captar momentos tipicamente brasileiros. Soube depois que ele era americano do norte. Quando eu conheci David Whitman descobri que ele até pode ser americano, mas seu olhar é brasileiro. As fotos de David Whitman me fazem querer sentir a emoção do momento clicado. Não há pose em suas fotos. Há sensações e luz! Há a beleza do cotidiano! Seu jogo de sombra e luz captam beleza de uma situação corriqueira: dois meninos brincando numa praça, um pescador trabalhando ou um jogo de capoeira na areia da praia. Sim, o amarelo é o Brasil e David Whitman é amarelo. Seu olhar brilha e faz brilhar nosso trivial cotidiano. Lindas fotos! Como lindo, é seu olhar sobre nós brasileiros.
The first time I saw David Whitman’s photos I thought he was Brazilian and I was enchanted with the way he caught typically Brazilian moments. Then I found out he was from North America. When I met David Whitman, I realized that although he is American, his way of seeing is Brazilian. His photos make me want to feel the emotion of the moment they were snapped. There are no poses in his pictures—only sensations and light, the beauty of day-to-day life. His play of shadow and light capture the beauty of common situations: two boys playing in a park, a fisherman at work or a game of capoeira on the sand. Yes, yellow is Brazil and David Whitman is yellow. His eyes shine and make our trivial day-to-day shine. The photos are beautiful, as is his way of looking upon us, Brazilians.

• Your images have vibrancy and life no matter what or who the subject matter. They reveal hope.

• You are a master at capturing with available light the essence of a moment. Thank you so much for sharing your vision with the world.

• Luz, Cor e Ação! Indico o site de David Whitman para aqueles que se deslumbram com a tradução do belo de uma imagem fotográfica. David Whitman fotografa com a alma.
Light, Color and Action! I recommend David Whitman's site for those who are fascinated by beauty translated into photographic images. David Whitman photographs with soul.

• You possess a phenomenal talent.

• I was surfing the internet today and discovered that your site has completely changed. It's better than ever. I love it. Looking at your photographs is like having to absorb all the possible ways that color and human beings can get together, foreground and background melted in a superior way. It was too much for me; I have to look at all this again, and again and again.

• Sheer luminosity! You make it look easy—sign of a true talent.

• You’ve captured the soul and beauty of Brazilians. More, more, more!

• Your photography is as alluring as your writings. I especially love the photos of the dancers and the children. Your use of color is incredible. I love how you negotiate every part of the picture in capturing shadows, textures and the importance of the background that all results in an incredible finished product. Bravo!

• Any person who has ever seen Whitman’s work realizes he is an artist. Turning special moments into wonderful photographs is his secret. His keen eye is what makes him special. And his photographs—magic!

• Beautiful portraiture and play of light and dark.

• Inspiring, profound, even witty.

• Você consegue captar imagens simples do cotidiano e através de sua sensibilidade transforma essas imagens em momentos de pura arte. Maravilhoso!
You succeed in capturing simple images of day-to-day life and, through your sensitivity, tranform them into moments of pure art. Marvelous!

• Vibrant, stunning, full of movement.

• Your ability to capture the sensuality, the beauty and the simplicity of every day life is mind-boggling. You paint a picture beautifully; only with a camera. You touch a certain part of our hearts; only with your eyes. You're amazing as a photographer and an artist.

• A natural artist. I love your work. You inspire me.

• These are intelligent photographs, taken with love, with knowledge. The textures are expertly worked out, transforming an old, peeling boat into a glassy one because it is the same color as the sea. The “cellist and her muse” is poetry, as is the young man looking through the window, transparent leaves hanging in front of him.

• Your photography is an inspiration to travel!

• Fabulous work! Gives me another reason to visit Brazil.

• Você arrasa como fotógrafo. Muito bom o texto sobre o Brasil ser amarelo.
You rock as a photographer. Very good, the text about Brazil being yellow.

• We can see that your heart is Brazilian, you simply love Brazil. And I'm so happy to have a friend who likes our culture and, through a camera lens, shows that to the world.

• What an incredible, beautifully written essay about yellow. You are really a gifted and immensely talented photographer and writer.

• Not only do I find your photographs lovely, but I started to see yellow everywhere. I've been looking through my own photos and guess what: that bicycle in the Botanical Garden was yellow and the buritis and the carambolas and my favorite mangas Carlotinhas and the jacas and…ad infinitum. You're absolutely right!

• Eu moro em São Paulo. Estive passando férias no Rio de Janeiro na casa de um amigo, um ator. Ele me mostrou um álbum com seu trabalho. Eu já tinha conhecimento de seus trabalhos através de revistas e jornais a seu respeito. Você tem uma luz própria que só você dar esse brilho nas fotografias. Isso me fascina. Você não tem noção o quanto o admiro.
I live in São Paulo. I was on vacation in Rio de Janeiro at the home of a friend, an actor. He showed me an album with your work. I already knew of your work through magazines and newspapers. You have your own light that gives brilliance to your photographs. This fascinates me. You have no idea how much I admire you.

• I visited your gorgeous site during a big snowfall, still welcome because it’s only February here in Maine, and almost a white-out over the fields. Still coming down in lovely swirls. You can imagine how much I welcomed your Braziliana.

• Adorei o artigo. O amarelo faz-se presente na vida dos brasileiros, pois antes de tudo, para nós significa a alegria na qual devemos nos espelhar todos os dias ao acordar.
I loved your article. Yellow is part of the lives of Brazilians because, above all, it signifies for us the happiness we should behold in ourselves every day when we awaken.

• Mando este e-mail para te parabenizar pela ousadia estética de seu trabalho, que como toda a obra de arte que alcança o mais alto grau de perfeição, nos deixa completamente perplexos em face de uma contemplação mítica e muda…não podemos compreender sua obra, a não ser que a deixemos fluir para dentro de nossa alma e nos conquiste inexoravelmente…e foi isso o que aconteceu…eu fiquei conquistado por essas imagens que vi.
I'm sending this e-mail to congratulate you for the aesthetic daring of your work, which, as with every work of art that reaches the highest degree of perfection, leaves us absolutely perplexed before a silent, mythic contemplation…we cannot comprehend the work unless we let it flow through our soul and conquer us inexorably…and that's what happened to me—I was conquered by the images I saw.

• Estive, por acaso, olhando as suas fotografias, o seu trabalho. Não acho que você achará que seja uma novidade o que vou dizer, mas achei o seu trabalho maravilhoso, original, lindo, penetrante…suas imagens conseguem seduzir e representam o belo na sua mais ampla designação perante os olhos de quem as vê.
By chance, I saw your photos, your work. I don't suppose you'll find what I have to say new, but I think your work is marvelous, original, beautiful, penetrating…your images manage to seduce and represent beauty in its widest sense to the eye of the beholder.

• Muitos que visitam este site comentaram sobre a cor amarelo, mas ao meu olhar, outro tema de Whitman é o negro—lisa pele negra, numa fotografia sensual—muitas vezes contrastando com algum elemento áspero (areia, concreto)—o que reforça ainda mais a sensualidade da pele. Há também muitas vezes um contraste de cores—preto com branco, preto com azul…esses contrastes dão às fotos dimensões adicionais de profundidade—algo que se sente mais do que vê.

Many visitors to this site have commented on the color yellow, but to my eye, another leitmotif of Whitman’s is black—sensuously photographed smooth black skin, often in contrast to some rough element (sand, ragged concrete)—which only further highlights the sensuality of the skin. There is also often a contrast of color—black against white, against blue… These contrasts give the photos extra dimensions of depth—something you can feel more than see.

• There are seven main types of stars that are classified by their spectra and temperatures. If I where to describe you as one of them, it would be a O-type star: uncommon and very bright. It is inspiring that you are radiating that beautiful energy to others through your photography.

• O seu site está lindíssimo, as fotos deslumbrantes. Fico sempre emocionado quando o vejo.

Your site is beautiful, the photos dazzling. Looking at it, I get emotional.

• Sem palavras. Estas imagens libertam o imaginário.

Speechless. These images unleash the imaginary.

• Congratulations, the work is beautiful.

• It is amazing how we can inspire one another with what we love to do.

• Vejam a irresistível descrição daquilo que seria a “côr do Brasil”, através dos olhos e da sensibilidade de um talentoso fotógrafo norte-americano apaixonado pelo nosso país.

Look at the irresistible description of what could be the “color of Brazil,” through the eyes and sensitivity of a talented U.S. photographer who’s in love with our country.

• Suas fotos são sempre geniais, sempre as mostro para as visitas aqui em casa e todos se surpreendem, ficam encantados. Seu site não poderia ser diferente: está espetacular.

Your photos are brilliant. I always show them to visitors here at home and everyone is amazed and enchanted. Your site couldn’t be other than what it is: spectacular.

• I have a very deep affinity for David Whitman's use of color, and for the way he gets textures of skin, wood, sand, whatever. His background in painting is one of the things that makes that happen, I think, and he composes beautifully. (Many other photographic figure studies that I've seen come across as fairly lifeless, even many that are intended to have an overtly erotic quality.)

• Photography for me is such a beautiful expression of what one sees. Your artwork shows people in everyday situations but you capture them in such an amazing way!

• I loved your article about yellow...you have such an eye for color!

• Wonderful photographs. And your words showed things I, a Brazilian, had not seen before.

• Parabéns prá você para nós, ter alguém tão profissional que também curte nosso país maravilhoso.

Congratulations to you for our sake, to have someone so professional who also enjoys our marvelous country.

• Awesome, like you.

• Absolutely gorgeous!

• I love what you wrote. It’s beautiful. Yellow is my favorite color but I never made this connection with Brazil, and as a Brazilian, I think you are right.

• Acabo de ler seu texto sobre amarelo no Brasil e adorei! Sou brasileira e também ando na fase do amarelo nos últimos anos e seu texto me fez ver porque esta cor me marca tanto.

I just read your text about yellow in Brazil and loved it! I’m Brazilian and also have been in a yellow phase these last few years and your text made me see why that color affects me so.

• Amazing and inspirational!

• You are the best. Great and beautiful work!

• Que lindão! Lindo lindo mesmo!

How gorgeous! Really, really beautiful!

• Beautiful writing and images. I love the way you see the world!

• Your soulful photographs remind me of how much I love Rio.

• I looked at your site, and love your images—really nice, emotional mood created by them, feels just like being there, great sense of connection to your subjects (much National Geographic-type stuff from others feels well-composed but distant; yours transcend that cultural divide to show a connection).

• When I look at your photos I think of paintings. The composition and color are just amazing.

• Agora estou convencida que você é brasileiro. Lindo!

Now I’m certain that you are Brazilian. Beautiful!

• Já mostrei seu site a alguns alunos meus e todos ficaram maravilhados, alguns, inclusive, apaixonados.

I’ve shown your site to some students of mine; all were amazed; some were even dazzled.

• Sheer luminosity.

• All the images have your unmistakable mark, especially in the textures you capture. I’m captivated.

• Lovely work, beautiful portraiture and play of light and dark.

• Eu adorei o seu website. As fotos estão lindas, um trabalho perfeito. Côres e formas, perfeita combinação!

I love your website. The photos are beautiful, a perfect work. Colors and shapes, perfect combination!

• Que material divino. Amei. As fotos estão deslumbrantes.
What divine material. I loved it. The photos are dazzling.

• You catch perfect pictures in the nick of time.

• I enjoyed your article and observations about yellow. One needs an artist’s eye and heart to look at the world in colors.

• Love this website and your vision of the world around us.

• Me dá uma alegria ver você falando do meu país. É gratificante. Valeu.

It makes me happy to see you talking about my country. It’s gratifying. Thanks.

• The yellow Brazil text is very lush and poetic.

• A marvelous article about my yellow, blue, green and white beloved country! I miss home very badly this week and it made me happy and more homesick at the same time.

• I’m highly impressed. You really have a gift of capturing the moment.

• Your photos lifted me out of the ordinary.

• Great and fun article about the color yellow. I love it.

• Your work is stunning, both exact and lush.

• Your passion for life is so clearly expressed in your photographs.

• Your photography is breathtaking. You don’t just take a photo, you capture an essence of the person at that particular point in time.

• Your photos are absolutely beautiful and make me want to go back to Brazil! You caught some amazing moments of candor and the feelings that are so difficult to convey about Brazilian life.

• Your website is awesome, the pictures of Brazil dazzling! Great work.

• With all the accolades I add mine. The photographs are luminous, but they can't outshine you.

right: photographer David Whitman in Brazil