“Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” ~ Henri Cartier Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson
Here is a short slideshow featuring the works of many great street photographers and their use of composition. The masters use composition to elevate the images from good to great. Add these examples to your mind's image bank. Once you immerse yourself in great photography and art you will start to see these patterns and relationships between objects in your own work as you frame your composition.
William Klein (born in NYC, 1928) is ranked 25th on Professional Photographer’s Top 100 Most influential photographers.
William Klein grew up in New York and, as a painter, went to work in Fernand Leger's Paris studio. He became interested in photography to record movement in his paintings and began using a camera. He was soon photographing other interests, and in 1954 his work was seen by American Vogue art director (and sculptor) Alexander Liberman, who offered him a contract as a fashion photographer. Liberman saw in his work a fresh approach and one that seemed to have a certain violence that would move the magazine away from the 'polite' images of Cecil Beaton.
Because Klein did not know how to use a studio, he took the models out onto the streets to photograph. Later he pioneered the use of wide angle and telephoto lenses for fashion work. Klein's photo-reportage style involved a rejection of the established notion of the photographer as a 'fly on the wall', an unseen recorder of events. Klein recognized this and through his methods emphasized the interaction between photographer and subject, oftentimes almost pushing his wide angle camera lens into people’s faces.
He went on to produce a book, New York, New York (1956) which featured this quick reflex 35mm street photography with a graphic design and text reflective of the New York Daily News and cheap advertising. This was followed by later books on Rome (1960), Moscow (1964) and Tokyo (1964).
Klein also made a number of movies, starting with one of the first Pop films, Broadway by Light. In 1962 he gave up still photography (except for a few fashion pictures for Vogue) to produce films on Muhammed Ali and Little Richard, the Vietnam War, and experimental films Mr Freedom and Who are you, Polly Magoo, a satire of the fashion industry
Klein returned to still photography circa 1980, mainly photographing people in crowd situations using an extreme wide angle lens. [via art-miami.com]
Klein has had solo and group exhibitions including Prints 1955-2007, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy and Rand Manège, Moscow. Klein’s work is in the collection of The Guggenheim Museum, New York, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
With a major Tate Modern exhibition currently celebrating his work, BBC spends time with William Klein to discover the irrepressible, charismatic personality behind a remarkable creative life in this fascinating documentary. Enjoy!
“I came to photography from the outside, so the rules of photography didn’t interest me.” William Klein
William Klein, Selwyn, 42nd Street, New York, 1955.
“In the 1950s I couldn’t find an American publisher for my New York pictures,” he says. “Everyone I showed them to said, ‘Ech! This isn’t New York – too ugly , too seedy and too one-sided.’ They said ‘This isn’t photography, this is shit!’” – William Klein (1981)
Regarding his street photograohy : "People would say, ‘What’s this for?” I’d say, ‘The News.’ ‘The News! Wow! No shit!’ I didn’t much care.” ~ William Klein
Ed van Wijk's (1917 - 1992) name is inseparably linked with The Hague (third largest city of the Netherlands): a major part of his archive consists of photographs taken in that city. He preferred to work in black-and-white and captured the events and people who make this part of Europe special. Wijk's compelling photographs of the devastating flood aftermath in the Netherlands (1953) are a testament to his skill and sensitivity as a photographer.
The Hague, 1952-56
Ed van Wijk, At the Beach, Scheveningen, The Netherlands, 1950s
Girl with a doll and a dog, Amsterdam, 1963.
The Big Flood of 1953
During the night of 31 January 1953, a flood disaster hit the South-west of the Netherlands. About 1850 people and tens of thousands of animals lost their lives. Around 100,000 people had to be evacuated, 4500 buildings were destroyed and many more were damaged. Almost 200,000 hectares of land were flooded. Nine months later the last hole in the dike was closed.
Of the numerous floods that have swept the Netherlands, this was the first one to be documented photographically on a large scale.
Woman and her dog take shelter after the massive flood (1953)
Evacuated child with doll in dormitory just after a major flood (1953)
Flood evacuees board bus ( 1953)
Rescuers rest against hedge house after the flood (1953)
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