Anthony Luke's not-just-another-photoblog Blog: Photographer Profile ~ Sergio Larrain

Sergio Larrain (1931-2012, born in Valparaiso, Chile) grew up in Chile but left at age eighteen to study at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon his return he began taking photographs in the streets of Santiago and Valparaiso; and the early purchase of two images by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, reassured him in his chosen profession.

Impressed by Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs, Larrain presented the photographer his work on los abandonados (street children in Santiago) during a trip to Europe. Cartier-Bresson then invited Larrain to join Magnum in 1960; around this time he also began what would become a legendary project on Valparaiso with a text by poet Pablo Neruda.

London. The City. 1958-1959
© Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos

London, England 1958-1959

“I saved my first money…and bought my first Leica, not because I wanted to do photos, but because it was the most beautiful object that one could buy (also a typewriter)… for the first time in my life, I had money to buy what I wanted.” – Sergio Larrain, in a letter to Agnes Sire, who was the desk editor of Magnum (Paris) for 20 years.

Limón Soda, Valparaíso. Photograph: Sergio Larrain/Magnum

BOLIVIA. Potosi. 1957

“Photography is a walk alone in the universe…The conventional world veils your vision, for photography you have to find a way to remove the veil.” – Sergio Larrain

“…People that do creative work, have to isolate themselves, they are all hermits, one way or another…Picasso would live in a world of happiness, with his children and women as you have seen…far from ugliness, sadness…” ~ Sergio Larrain