A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Elliott Erwitt’s huge and incredible volume Personal Best. If you are serious about photography it’s a book you simply need to have!

I won’t be bashful, I love Erwitt and he’s just what we all need during these somewhat dark times. Why? For one thing, all his photographs are great! They capture the hilarious and absurdity in life, especially those with the dogs … just what we need today … and probably tomorrow!  I look at these pictures and they make me laugh, but most of all, they make me happy.  I’m certain the laughing contributes to the happiness. But Erwitt is more than a one trick pony … he’s made many truly poignant images that will touch you in a powerful way.  Just look at his picture of Jacqueline Kennedy at John F. Kennedy’s funeral. And there are many more such wonderful and moving images.

Erwitt’s photographs are all gems and yet there are just so many of them! The fact that many of the wonderful pictures in Personal Best were never published before really says something.

He’s lived an incredible photographic life and has had a career spanning seven decades.  Still active in his 90’s, he believes “the best things happen when you just happen to be somewhere with a camera.”  Damn!

I like everything about Erwitt. His pictures, the life he’s lived and his philosophy.

As I previously wrote about Personal Best, it gives me something to dream of and aspire to, even if I cannot have the life Elliott Erwitt has had. It forces me to strive to do what makes me happy and do it in the best way I can, so I can create mypersonal best.

Stay safe,

Michael