Minor Martin White

Minor Martin White was born in Minneapolis, MN in 1908. After getting his Bachelors in Botany with a minor in English he moved to Portland and this is where his photography career really took off. During World War II he served in the military intelligence and afterwards moved to New York City where he studied at Columbia University under Meyer Schapiro. He began to work closely with a group of photographers such as, Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz. White was very interested in the types and forms of emotions that were created when someone looks at a photograph. That is why he was very critical of his own work and very particular in its appearance.

One of the most interesting qualities of his photographs, are

his subject matters. He photographs things that to many people may seem mundane or "usual," but it is the way he portrays these images and the emotions they encompass. This is why I was drawn to his work, this is the type of photography I love, pictures of nothing, but the photographer found a way to make them look beautiful, a rare talent.

Photographed below left is one of White's most famous works, called Frost. It is simply a photograph of a frosted window pane, but White used angles and light to make it look like a work of art.