LEICA VIEW
Spring 1999

LYNN SAVILLE – Master of Highlights and Shadows

Lynn Saville may not yet be a household name in the world of photography, but it is certainly on its way to becoming one.  The New York City photographer has had her work represented in numerous photography exhibitions and won several major awards.  In early 1997, Rizzoli published a book of Saville’s shots entitled “Acquainted with the Night.”  Combined with poems by Robert Frost, John Keats, and others and a foreword by Bill Moyers, the photographs are evocative of less well-known sides of New York, Lisbon, and other cities, of rural Vermont, India, and Greece.  Leica Fotografie International featured works of hers in 1996 and, more recently, in 1999.

Saville specializes  in bringing out the lights and darks of her subjects.  Working in black and white – often at night – she seeks to bring out the details of highlights as well as shadows.  She says she uses her eyes to “open up like a diaphragm of a lens to allow me to see the shadows.”  The resulting images are both suspenseful and seductive.

A Leica buff, Saville currently uses an M6.  Of it she has said, “The Leica is very important for my creative work.  The Quality of workmanship gives me confidence as I photograph – the sound of the Leica inspires me.  I usually work alone and mostly in quiet places so that the click of the Leica is a real kick.”