 |
| Portrait of Joel Meyerowitz |
Joel Meyerowitz is a street photographer who is well known for his use of color. Born in 1938 in New York, Meyerowitz first worked as an art director
at a small advertising company in New York City. The decision to become a photographer came "instantly"
after spending an afternoon with Robert Frank walking around the streets of New York taking pictures. Meyerowitz knew photography would fulfill him more than advertising. Upon returning to his office, he promptly resigned. Similar to Frank's work, Meyerowitz begin photographing what he saw on the "the streets", which he claims only seemed natural to him.
When asked how he learned to take photographs in an interview with Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel from 1981, Meyerowitz states that he acquired the technical skills by "doing it". "I wasn't smart enough to ask about a school. I'm not even sure if (photography) schools exhisted at that point. I borrowed a camera from a friend and purchased a single-lens reflex camera and I made photographs. At night, I would look at them... In the evenings, I would look at the slides and if they were too bright, I would know to make them darker the next time. If they were too dark, I'd make them lighter. It's a very pragmatic, simple minded approach to making photographs" (Meyerowitz).
When asked how he learned to take photographs in an interview with Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel from 1981, Meyerowitz states that he acquired the technical skills by "doing it". "I wasn't smart enough to ask about a school. I'm not even sure if (photography) schools exhisted at that point. I borrowed a camera from a friend and purchased a single-lens reflex camera and I made photographs. At night, I would look at them... In the evenings, I would look at the slides and if they were too bright, I would know to make them darker the next time. If they were too dark, I'd make them lighter. It's a very pragmatic, simple minded approach to making photographs" (Meyerowitz).
In the same interview, Meyerowitz was asked what "street photography" meant to him. He stated, "It means to me being out on the street using your wits and your sense of place; the sense of yourself
in that place; your willingness to deal with ciaos and arbitrarious. Things come at you and you have to work with them. You have to be
responsive and full of feeling and you have to pay attention. It's a
kind of reveling in the ciaos of the street that I think its what
underlies the idea of street photography" (Meyerowitz).
 |
| Meyerowitz, Joel, Fallen Man, Paris, 1967. |
Meyerowitz is well known for some of his images which he took out of the window of his car. Last month, Meyerowitz spoke to Eugene Reznik from American Photo, where he describes what lead to this method of shooting pictures: "What had happened for me was that in 1964, I took a trip around America.
Like so many of my generation we were in search of Robert Frank — to
see the America of our moment. I think many of us had the same ambition
to go on this quest because we saw that photography could really be a
larger statement than just a couple of interesting photographs, that you
might be able to say something about the time and the place you’re
living in" (Meyerowitz). While touring America with his camera and shooting from his car, Meyerowitz describes that he was living in the camera. The car was the body of the camera and the windows were the lens. He states that his decision to take photos at any given moment were made in an instant and came from a "gut feeling". Meyerowitz currently has an exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York City, which displays images he shot out of a car window during a trip to Europe in 1965.
One of the key aspects that makes Meyerowitz a central figure in the history of photography was his desire to shoot color film. When Meyerowitz first began to take pictures, he shot in color because that's what was available to him and he didn't know how to print black and white images. However, color photography was unpopular as far as the "fine art world" was concerned and so he learned how to shoot, develop and print his own black and white images.
It was not until the early '70s that Meyerowitz began to shoot mainly color. As he describes it, "... (color) is a half step closer to the way we feel and see reality, but I had to work in black and white because you couldn't print color with the kind of ease and command that you could print black and white and so, it was more effective to do black and white photography. At a point in the seventies, when color technology made one more turn in the revolution in photography I understood now was the moment to throw all the risk in that area. You know, technology has always changed photography" (Meyerowitz).
 |
| Meyerowitz, Joel, From the Series European Trip: Photographs from the Car, 1965. |
One of the key aspects that makes Meyerowitz a central figure in the history of photography was his desire to shoot color film. When Meyerowitz first began to take pictures, he shot in color because that's what was available to him and he didn't know how to print black and white images. However, color photography was unpopular as far as the "fine art world" was concerned and so he learned how to shoot, develop and print his own black and white images.
 |
| Meyerowitz, Joel, Times Square, 1963. |
It was not until the early '70s that Meyerowitz began to shoot mainly color. As he describes it, "... (color) is a half step closer to the way we feel and see reality, but I had to work in black and white because you couldn't print color with the kind of ease and command that you could print black and white and so, it was more effective to do black and white photography. At a point in the seventies, when color technology made one more turn in the revolution in photography I understood now was the moment to throw all the risk in that area. You know, technology has always changed photography" (Meyerowitz).
 |
| Meyerowitz, Joel, Camel Coats, 5th Avenue, New York City, 1975. |
Stay tuned for the next Pho·tog Friday post as we look deeper into the life and work of Joel Meyerowitz!
____________________________________________________________________________
01. Reznik, Eugene. "Interview: Reliving Joel Meyerowitz’s European Road Trip." American Photo Mag. American Photo, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 May 2014.
02. "Joel Meyerowitz." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.
03. Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee. "Visions and Images: Joel Meyerowitz, 1981." YouTube. Duke University Library Archive, n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.
04. "Joel Meyerowitz Photography, LLC." Joel Meyerowitz Photography, LLC. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.
05. "Joel Meyerowitz." Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.