The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography
The camera is magic
A tender, visually luminous meditation on a photographer's life work, memory, and the passage of time captured through intimate portraits and fading Polaroids.
Portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman found her medium in 1980: the larger-than-life Polaroid Land 20x24 camera. For the next thirty-five years, she captured the “surfaces” of those who visited her studio: families, Beat poets, rock stars, and Harvard notables. As pictures begin to fade and her retirement looms, Dorfman gives Errol Morris an inside tour of her backyard archive.
Essence
Ensemble
Closest match
Nearest across the full emotional profile.
Same mood
Nearest on what's most distinctive about this one.
Hidden gem
Same territory, far fewer people have seen it.
