Street photographer research

Lee Friedlander:

Lee was born on the 14th of July 1934 and is an American photographer and artist. Lee primarily worked in the 1960's and 1970's using a 35mm camera and producing images on black and white film. 

A lot of Lee's work was taken from the front seat of a car, he also took a lot of shots from the outside of store fronts/cafe windows looking into the window capturing the people on the other side of the glass, and to me these shots were interesting and an eye opener. Originally i thought that street photography had to be you out on the streets capturing life outside of buildings/ public transport and cars.But his shots made me think outside the box and to now look for not only things going on in the streets but what happens in shops and public buildings, it also made me think of using the reflections of people for some shots to see what kind of an affect this would get me.

Here are a few examples:

 This is one of the first images i came across after researching into Lee further. I really liked this image one because he has gone against the normal style of street photography to capture a women in a window but also because she appears to be posing as if she was a Manikin. I also like how you can see reflections of what is behind the photographer in the window. 

This is one of my favorite images out of the few he did from inside his car. I just feel like it is such an unusual photograph to see the car up on top of a pole, i also like after you notice the car and you realise how bizarre it is you then notice the tiny detail in the wing mirror, to me it almost looks like a barren waste land, similar to the deserts around Las Vagas.



The method Lee uses in his photo's which does set him apart from most of the other street photographers is how he incorporates himself in a lot of the shots. Be that by showing his shadow or having himself in the reflection of the mirror/window. I think this is a really effective method because it is almost like making yourself a part of the street photography.

I have a couple examples of this bellow:

This was my favorite self portrait shot Lee did. At first your eye is drawn to his face in the wing mirror and you can tell from the slight glimpse of the camera you get that it is the photographer. Then you pan your eye right and notice the church and the rest of the landscape.

I think compared to the previous self portrait shot this is more of a subtle way of showing his presence in a photograph. He has almost projected his shadow onto the women's back, but not only did he do that he has placed it really well, so that his head lines up with her head and so does his neck only his shadow is a notch lower than her actual body.