Former Editor-in-Chief of LIFE magazine; Contrib. Editor, Leica Conversations; Author, ‘What We Keep.’ Link: The Strange Lure of Other People’s Photos highlights photographer Victoria Gewirz in his “Let’s Meet This Photographer” series…

“It’s Friday. Let’s Meet This Photographer: When I first came upon Victoria Gewirz’s (@victoriagewirz) pictures of the circus, I wasn’t sure when they’d been shot. A hundred years ago? Fifty? Last Tuesday? And I loved that. In a medium that captures slim moments in time, appearing truly timeless is a neat trick. And while the circus has changed over the years (less cruelty to animals, for starters), it remains a place where many children get their first taste of a live spectacle, of pure (and CGI-free) wonder. It’s still a venue where things impossible to imagine happen, often before intermission. For me, Victoria’s pictures bottle both the nostalgia I feel as an adult as well the magic I felt as a kid.

Victoria got her start the old-fashioned way: right place, right time, camera at the ready, a dash of chutzpah. When Victoria’s shaky-handed photos of fellow high school students protesting a pot bust were rejected by her school paper, she did the only natural thing: She marched ‘em over to the Washington Post—which printed one in the next day’s paper. She went on to freelance for newspapers and magazines, and then, in 1988, she got an assignment from the Boston Children’s Museum that changed everything: They hired her to shoot an event at the Big Apple circus. After that, she told me, “I never stopped going back.”

“I’m really traditional in my work,” she says, “all film, full frame, little to no cropping. I embrace the idea that what I see is exactly what the viewer sees. No Photoshop.” In many of her images, the audience disappears, making us feel alone with the awe and pageantry. “Early on, the surprise and beauty of the circus kept me photographing,” she told me, wistfully noting that the circus comes to town less often these days. “As of late however, I feel as if it’s turned into a little bit of a historical record.” Who knows why, but Victoria hasn’t received the Instagram love she deserves. Can we change that?

For the Camera Curious: “I have only ever used my trusty FE2 Nikon. Love black-and-white film, Tri-x 400ASA or TMAX 3200.”

Dr. Grant Scott, founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, asks photographer Victoria Gewirz to describe what photography means to her in less than 5 minutes. Click below to listen to her podcast which is included in the A Photographic Life podcast series, episode #201.

F-Stop Magazine awards photographer Victoria Gewirz with the selection of three images to appear in Issue #112 - Amusement 2022.