Claire Yaffa

Claire Yaffa took her first photograph 45 years ago when her son was 18 months old and it was the beginning of her journey as a photographer.She has worked extensively for The New York Times and Associated Press. Her photographs have appeared in countless influential publications and have been exhibited at major venues in the US and around the world.

I purchased my first camera, a Rolleiflex, in 1966. A few years later, at Cornell Capa's (the younger brother of photo-journalist and war photographer Robert Capa) urging, I changed from my Rolleiflex 2 1/4 format to a Leica 35mm camera. I was working then as a stringer for The New York Times and Associated Press. I saw that my photographs had a different urgency and emotion photographing with the Leica camera. I noticed a significant change in my work and so did my editors, as I received more assignments.

I always photographed with my heart, but now it was possible to use my head. I became aware that the photographers whose work I most admired, e.g. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Salgado, Marc Riboud, Ralph Gibson, to name only a few, photographed with a Leica. There was something magical when I began photographing with my Leica. I was unobtrusive, quietly seeing the image in my head, thinking about the image, before I pressed the quiet shutter.

I feel fortunate to have been able to add the Leica M9 digital camera to my M6 film camera. I usually photograph with both cameras, the M6 and M9. As I am photographing, I sometimes forget which is film and which is digital as I am able to interchange the different lenses.

Many photographers carry their cameras with them or hide behind them. The Leica photographers pictured here seem to wear their cameras as a talisman, their badge of honor as a photographer.

Claire Yaffa

See more of Claire's work on her website www.claireyaffa.com