Saul Leiter
12/3/1923 - 11/26/2013
1. Biography
Saul Leiter was born in 1923 to a well-known Talmudic scholar and from a young age was encouraged to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, he expressed interest in art, and at age 23 he left Theological school for NYC to paint. Early on he befriended the abstract painter Richard Poutesse-Dart who introduced him to the photographer W. Eugene Smith. With their encouragement, he purchased a Leica camera and began to photograph around New York. He began to experiment with color film in the early ’50s. His fashion work from his later life was widely published, but now he is best remembered for his pioneering use of color in street photography and as an influential member of the New York School.
2. Style Leiter’s use of high-value color stands in sharp contrast to the black and white of his contemporaries. This color reminds me of the high-value primary colors used in De Stijl painting and architecture, along with the pop-art style that came later. This can be seen especially looking at the red and gold in DeMuth’s I Saw The Figure Five In Gold and Leiter’s Taxi. He was always experimenting and captured anything that caught his eye. By observing and appreciating the bustle of modern life he was able to capture the beautiful and intriguing things around that normal passerbys would miss.
3. Philosophy Two of my favorite Saul Leiter quotes are, “I don’t have a philosophy. I have a camera,” and, “A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a famous person.” I think a lot of what Leiter’s street work says goes with that second quote; he captured the things he thought were beautiful and intriguing in the world around him. I think he was also saying that the little things we don’t notice around ourselves can be the most beautiful. He alluded to this when he said, “There are the things that are out in the open and then there are the things that are hidden, and life has more to do, the real world has more to do with what is hidden, maybe. You think?”
4. Influences Leiter’s work has influenced me a lot. When I first started taking photographs, I would spend all of my time looking for the perfect spot and the perfect moment. It was like I stumbled around only looking through binoculars, missing everything else around me. Leiter’s photos and the way he talked about his work changed that for me. His work showed me that many of the most intriguing and captivating photos are all around me, I just need to take the time to absorb my surroundings and notice them. When I take my time and look all around with my eyes wide open, I can find so many interesting things in day-to-day life. His work also taught me that it is better to capture something that might not be good because there is always a chance it will be, and there is no way to know if I do not try.
Saul Leiter was born in 1923 to a well-known Talmudic scholar and from a young age was encouraged to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, he expressed interest in art, and at age 23 he left Theological school for NYC to paint. Early on he befriended the abstract painter Richard Poutesse-Dart who introduced him to the photographer W. Eugene Smith. With their encouragement, he purchased a Leica camera and began to photograph around New York. He began to experiment with color film in the early ’50s. His fashion work from his later life was widely published, but now he is best remembered for his pioneering use of color in street photography and as an influential member of the New York School.
2. Style Leiter’s use of high-value color stands in sharp contrast to the black and white of his contemporaries. This color reminds me of the high-value primary colors used in De Stijl painting and architecture, along with the pop-art style that came later. This can be seen especially looking at the red and gold in DeMuth’s I Saw The Figure Five In Gold and Leiter’s Taxi. He was always experimenting and captured anything that caught his eye. By observing and appreciating the bustle of modern life he was able to capture the beautiful and intriguing things around that normal passerbys would miss.
3. Philosophy Two of my favorite Saul Leiter quotes are, “I don’t have a philosophy. I have a camera,” and, “A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a famous person.” I think a lot of what Leiter’s street work says goes with that second quote; he captured the things he thought were beautiful and intriguing in the world around him. I think he was also saying that the little things we don’t notice around ourselves can be the most beautiful. He alluded to this when he said, “There are the things that are out in the open and then there are the things that are hidden, and life has more to do, the real world has more to do with what is hidden, maybe. You think?”
4. Influences Leiter’s work has influenced me a lot. When I first started taking photographs, I would spend all of my time looking for the perfect spot and the perfect moment. It was like I stumbled around only looking through binoculars, missing everything else around me. Leiter’s photos and the way he talked about his work changed that for me. His work showed me that many of the most intriguing and captivating photos are all around me, I just need to take the time to absorb my surroundings and notice them. When I take my time and look all around with my eyes wide open, I can find so many interesting things in day-to-day life. His work also taught me that it is better to capture something that might not be good because there is always a chance it will be, and there is no way to know if I do not try.
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While Leiter’s picture appears to have been taken with direct sunlight, I was still able to capture the reflection from the street with the soft light of the overcast evening I took this picture. To try and emulate Leiter’s image further, I did my best with the dodge tool to even out the dark shadows that were originally present around the border of the image and especially in the doorway. I think this worked pretty well, and through the truck reflected in the window of my picture doesn’t pop as much as Leiter’s red bus, I think I was able to capture a similar atmosphere.
Though these two images may initially appear quite different, I think I was able to capture many of the elements of Leiter’s style in this picture. In both, the colors are muted by the overcast of winter though there is still a pop of bright red. In Leiter’s, this is the traffic light, while in mine this is the fire hydrant. Both also have women crossing snowy urban streets which create an air of mystery because their destinations are not in frame. There is also both the texture of snow, though the flakes in my picture are much finer than those in Leiter’s.
To capture scenes like Leiter’s, I did a lot of looking for bright colored cars or people wearing bright colored clothes, so when I found this red Volvo I immediately looked around it for angles. I immediately noticed the man walking down the street and managed to frame him in the window before he passed. I’m glad I did, because it wasn’t until I was looking through Leiter’s pictures for more inspiration that I realized how similar in framing and color palette these two pictures are.
Artist's Statement:
I remember finding Saul Leiter’s photographs when I was researching images for our first journal and being completely amazed. I’m usually bad with names, but his stuck with me and I’ve kept coming back to his work, so when I received this assignment I knew I would do it on him right away. In Barbershop, I tried to capture the juxtaposition between the normalcy of going to the barbershop with the strange ways life has changed during the pandemic. Blue Jacket is my favorite out of the three because of the contrast between the pops of color and the dark surroundings. Though the buildings and sky seem dark and melancholy, the bright jacket and fire hydrant stand in rebellion against winter’s oppressive weight. Some of my favorite of Leiter’s pictures are of a scene through a frame, so I really like the way I was able to frame the walking man in Volvo. I think the framing, while simple, makes the viewer wonder more about the life of the subject than if there was no frame.
I remember finding Saul Leiter’s photographs when I was researching images for our first journal and being completely amazed. I’m usually bad with names, but his stuck with me and I’ve kept coming back to his work, so when I received this assignment I knew I would do it on him right away. In Barbershop, I tried to capture the juxtaposition between the normalcy of going to the barbershop with the strange ways life has changed during the pandemic. Blue Jacket is my favorite out of the three because of the contrast between the pops of color and the dark surroundings. Though the buildings and sky seem dark and melancholy, the bright jacket and fire hydrant stand in rebellion against winter’s oppressive weight. Some of my favorite of Leiter’s pictures are of a scene through a frame, so I really like the way I was able to frame the walking man in Volvo. I think the framing, while simple, makes the viewer wonder more about the life of the subject than if there was no frame.