Trudie is a new photo book by Ben Larrabee, presenting 51 portraits of his wife, Trudie Larrabee, photographed over a 20-year period between 1997 and 2017. The book includes both color and black-and-white images, showing Trudie in a range of settings and moments, at home and during travel.
The images in Trudie vary in mood and setting. Some show her sunbathing in the Netherlands or doing Pilates; others capture her on the edge of a lake, with sunlight dancing on the surface of the water. Many of the photographs show her nude, something Trudie has grown comfortable with over time. In one image, taken on the empty 61st floor of the Empire State Building, she leans against a pillar. “Ben said ‘Go stand in front of that column,’ so as I walk over, anticipating Ben’s request to be nude, I take my clothes off and quickly stashed them behind the column,” she said. Another image shows her sitting on a windowsill with hills in the background.
“Nudes of everyday life without pretense, neither planned nor staged.” – Ben Larrabee
Larrabee lives in Darien, Connecticut, and studied photography under legendary photographer Harry Callahan at the Rhode Island School of Design. Inspired by Callahan’s photographs of his wife Eleanor and guided by his teacher’s advice to “photograph what you care about,” Larrabee began photographing Trudie as a way to explore composition, rhythm, and texture through someone deeply familiar and close to him.
“Larrabee’s art is as much of a tribute to the love of his life as it is homage to artists of the past, who have often painted, drawn or photographed those who inspire them. ” – Melvin Mason for the Darien Times
Ben Larrabee studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, where a course with Harry Callahan led him to switch from graphic design. He received his BFA in 1967, later earning an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale. After a successful design career, including work for Westinghouse and Fortune 100 companies, he returned to photography in 1993, guided by his long-standing practice of Transcendental Meditation. Through photography, he began capturing what he calls “Moments of Grace®” — unposed, intimate glimpses of daily life. For over 25 years, Larrabee has focused on photographing families and personal subjects with honesty and emotion.
Trudie: A Portrait by Ben Larrabee
Photographs and text by Ben Larrabee
Aviva Publishing
Hardcover with dust jacket
88 Pages, 51 photographs, 11 x 11”
ISBN 978-1-63618-246-9
$55.00
https://www.benlarrabee.com/trudie-a-portrait-by-ben-larrabee/
