Weegee (Arthur Fellig) was a working photojournalist in gritty NY in the forties. I mean working, hanging out at the police station all night waiting for stuff to happen. There's a good web site:
Weegee is an inspiration to just grab that camera and go out and find the stuff that's happening. In any substantial sized town, not to mention big city, there is always stuff happening. Just look in the Crime Watch section of your local paper and you'll see what you've been missing.
great site
That is a great site, it reminds me that even the most banal moments today can have a significance years from now. We still have these classic photo-opportunities today!
I would loooove to hear what the prints look like, compared to the books.
The Ansel Adams exhibit in Vegas was a real eye opener. His personal prints had super dark bits, almost but not quite impenetrable. Some bits were, frankly, pure black.
The books, however, decided to correct his "mistakes" and really opened up the shadows. So if you look at an Ansel Adams print in a book, there's a good chance you're not seeing the image as the master had intended.
I was immediately reminded of Rutt's comments about the varying quality of the repoductions in the various Weegee books.
Where you'd yet again blow into town without even so much as a hullo?
Oh man, I had no way of meeting anybody this week. Sorry for my poor manners. I did get to spend an hour at B&H, enough to be staggered at the amount of business that they do.
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Excellent. Moved your separate thread to this thread, Ginger.
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Thanks, Andy, Merry Chapel took it in stride!
Weegee was my uncle. He died when I was young, but I remember him well. Somewhere, I have the Speed Graphic he gave me.
It is nice to see Weegee remembered.
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That is a great site, it reminds me that even the most banal moments today can have a significance years from now. We still have these classic photo-opportunities today!
Nice writeup in The Old Grey Lady here.
I LOVE the headline:
"He Made the Night Noir, on Deadline"
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The Ansel Adams exhibit in Vegas was a real eye opener. His personal prints had super dark bits, almost but not quite impenetrable. Some bits were, frankly, pure black.
The books, however, decided to correct his "mistakes" and really opened up the shadows. So if you look at an Ansel Adams print in a book, there's a good chance you're not seeing the image as the master had intended.
I was immediately reminded of Rutt's comments about the varying quality of the repoductions in the various Weegee books.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
This may call for another day trip to NYC.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
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But I'd love to do a Weegee steak trip. :eat
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
NOW you're talking!
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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
re his invisible light shots on the beach at Coney Island-
he was an early exponent of infrared-there is a classic IR photo of his showing a scared audience at the cinema watching a horror film.
he used,i think flash bulbs with an IR filter infront of them to make it unobtrusive.
his 'distortion' portrait photos using concave and convex mirrors are rather good too and very different to his gritty crime and street photos.
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