My Photographic Mentor: Weegee

Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, was a renowned photographer who was active during the 1930s and 40s. He is most known for his photographs that depict the harsh reality of life on New York’s Lower East Side, from disturbing images of murder scenes to children playing happily in the street. His signature photos were taken in stark black and white using very basic photo equipment, often having a very eerie but enticingly real feeling about them. Weegee achieved his mystifying photographs by following Manhattan’s police and fire department around while they dealt with emergencies, photographing the scene of the crime or the commotion that was occurring. This often resulted in haunting  images such as this one, intended to offer insight into the grimy, grotesque side of Manhattan often were often glossed over or went ignored. This unflinching desire to portray reality in his photographs is what made Weegee a true photographic mentor.

Weegee was very much a self made man. He immigrated to New York from Ukraine with his family in 1909 and was forced to work odd jobs to make ends meet. He worked several different jobs in the field of photography, such as assisting a commercial photographer and working in the dark room for Acme Newspictures, before deciding to become a freelance photographer (Amber Online). Doing this gave him a lot more freedom to shoot pictures that meant something to him and depicted stories that he was passionate about. Weegee described his job in very basic terms : “What I did simply was this: I went down to Manhattan Police Headquarters and for two years I worked without a police card or any kind of credentials. When a story came over a police teletype, I would go to it. The idea was I sold the pictures to the newspapers. And naturally, I picked a story that meant something.” (Wikipedia). In order to create his art, Weegee used a Speed Graphic press camera that had a preset aperture, shutter speed and focus distance. He had a darkroom set up in the trunk of his car that he would use to quickly develop his newsworthy photos before rushing them to newspapers such as The New York Post. Even his pseudonym, Weegee, is something that he invented. Though there is much dispute about how it came to be, one of the common stories is that he gave himself this nickname, a phonetic spelling of Ouija, due to his uncanny ability to arrive at crime scenes even before the authorities, almost like a sixth sense (The J. Paul Getty Museum).  Weegee was a self taught photographer who created his own legacy all by himself, which is what makes him such an incredible mentor and inspiration.

     One of the things that made Weegee such an acclaimed photographer was his ability to depict things as they were, instead of distorting things to make them look prettier or more meaningful. Many of his photos, such as the one shown aside, are extremely gritty and morbid depictions of New York street life. In the area that Weegee was active, however, that was what everyday life looked like to the people living there. His photos also display a sense of compassion for the Lower East Side and the raw emotion that was constantly present there, like in the photo Lovers at the Movies (shown below). Weegee devoted a large portion of his career to studying death. In his words, he was “spellbound by the mystery of murder” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Because he would follow New York’s emergency services around, he was able to take photos of crime scenes almost immediately after the incident had occurred. These images very often very graphic and disturbing, conveying a strong sense of unease. To add to this feeling, Weegee’s photos were usually very high contrast, rule breaking and shot at night, adding to the chaotic sentiment of the photos.

     Weegee’s photos all conveyed a very important meaning, which was exposing New York’s true colours during his era. Because his photos were featured in prominent newspapers and tabloids, he was able to show his work and his subject matter to the masses, thereby making a statement about privileged, high society Manhattan versus the realer, unkempt and scruffy Manhattan. This can be seen in his photo The Critic, shown aside. You can see the two “high society” ladies focusing on only the camera and the way they will appear, while an obviously lower class onlooker sneers at them, mocking their vanity. It was with photos like this that Weegee was able to get his message about society’s flaws out there where not only could everyone see it, but nobody could avoid it. Whether he was shooting gruesome murder scenes or famous celebrities – such as Marilyn Monroe– Weegee’s work always demonstrated his passion and devotion to his subject matter and his message.

Though Weegee was an active photographer almost 80 years ago now, his legacy endures still today. His photos are remembered for their strong, deeply meaningful messages and ability to captivate the viewer and force them to see the meaning behind them. In Naked City, Weegee’s first photography book, William McCleery said about the photographer: “He will take his camera and ride off in search of new evidence that his city, even in her most drunken and disorderly and pathetic moments, is beautiful.” His iconic work is still remembered and admired today, and this is what truly makes him a photographic mentor.

This photo was taken with the intent of replicating Weegee's signature style. Since he was very captivated by death and usually shot scenes of murders just after they occurred, I decided to capture a photo of someone who has just committed a murder. To put my own twist on it, I decided to take the photo from the point of view of the murderer instead of from the onlookers who have discovered the dead person. The idea that I was trying to express was that this person has just stabbed someone and escaped from the scene of the crime and is now trying to dispose of all the evidence, maybe in a public bathroom or something like that. I shot the photo in black and white and made it very high contrast to imitate Weegee's style. The broken tap and the fact that it is shot on an angle without any balance adds to the photo the chaos that he was so well known for capturing. This photo was shot with an aperture of f5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/100

References:

Rigby, Graeme. "Weegee." Amber Online. N.p., 25 Oct. 2008. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.amber-online.com/people/52>.

"Weegee." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1257491/Weegee>.

"Weegee." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee>.

"Weegee." The J. Paul Getty Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1887>.

"Weegee's World." International Center of Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://museum.icp.org/museum/collections/special/weegee/>.

Weegee. Naked City. New York: Da Capo Press, 19751945. Print.

SILK SCREENING

The final component of our alternative process was to create something that was marketable, so I decided to learn how to silk screen and make some nifty t-shirts. This proved to be a lot harder and more complicated that I originally thought, but in the end it was lots of fun. 

The first step of this project was to choose an image. I decided to choose this picture of someone (me) lying on a hammock taken from their point of view, because I think that is one of the most peaceful things in the world. If everybody spent less time being serious and more time lying on hammocks, the world would definitely be a better place. It is so calming and sometimes also very enlightening if you are dealing with a lot of negative junk, and I really wanted the image to evoke that feeling so that I could share it with everyone else. To transform this image into the final product, I had to go through a lot of steps. First, I used photoshop to make the image black and white and then posterize it. Doing this makes the image into blocks of colour, making it easier to transfer onto a shirt. I made the image into three different shades (black, white and gray) and then made two copies of the photo that were either just black and white or just black and gray. I then changed the contrast on the two photos so they were both black and white only, but varying parts of the photo were black. Next I printed the pictures onto clear acetate in order to transfer them onto the silk. In order for this to work you need to have a piece of silk stretched across a wooden frame and covered in light sensitive emulsion. I placed the acetate printouts onto a light table and placed my silk canvas over top of them, then turned on the light table for 20 minutes so that the emulsion was exposed and the images were transferred onto the canvas. The parts of the image that were black prevented the part of the silk they were underneath from being exposed, so afterwards when the canvas was rinsed, that part of the emulsion would rinse off and the silk would show through. 

This then allowed me to use the canvas as a stencil to print onto my shirt. I put the first picture on the canvas down on my shirt and used fabric ink and a roller to roll ink over top of it. The areas where the silk showed through transferred the ink through them, so that part ended up being coloured. Once the first layer had dried I printed the second picture on the canvas with different silk patches over top of the first one in another colour, filling in some of the white and making the print on the t-shirt two different colours. I did this on two different t-shirts, using a variety of cool colours to evoke a feeling of relaxation and summer. I think that the finished product is pretty cool and I am glad that I went through this whole process :)

 My original photo
aperture f4.5 and shutter speed 1/30

 The posterized versions

Alternative Process II - Photogram

For the second portion of our alternative processes assignment, I decided to make a photogram. A photogram is made by placing different objects on top of a piece of photo paper and using an enlarger to expose the paper. The result is that the uncovered parts of the paper turn black and the parts of the paper that were covered with objects are unexposed or partially unexposed. I thought that this process was pretty easy in theory but also sort of difficult because it required me to find ways to make all these different textures and objects cohesive and meaningful, as opposed to just being a bunch of shapes on a page. Here is what I ended up with :

The theme that I was trying to represent with this is the chaos that surrounds human life and how we interpret and respond to it. I cut out a stencil of the human body that showed (or attempted to show) the brain and the nervous system and placed it right in the middle of the page, making it the focal point of the image. I used several objects of varying textures and thicknesses to surround the body and create different patterns and values all around it. Some of the objects I used were copper wire, pillow stuffing, dead leaves and clear plastic, among other things. I waved the plastic over different areas of the image while exposing the paper for 10 seconds to create different tonal values in the background, instead of having it be all black. Once this was all done I put the photo paper through the developer, stop and fix,  and the exposed parts of the photo became black or gray while the covered parts stayed white.

I think that this turned out pretty cool. I think that the wire did a pretty good job of representing the feeling of chaos that I was going for, and the way that the body looks like it is just drifting in the midst of everything else. Sometimes this is the way I feel in my life, but all in all I think things are pretty good :)

Alternative Processes Take 1

This is my most recent project, which is called an acrylic gel lift. Our current assignment is to use three different alternative photography processes to create three different works of art, and this is my first go at it. Basically, an acrylic gel lift is made by taping a photocopy of a photo down flat and then painting tons of thin layers of white acrylic gel over top of it. The annoying part is each layer has to dry before the next one is added, so the process takes a really long time. The gel dries clear, and once you have built up enough layers - I used about 20 -   there will be a stretchy layer of plastic stuff on top of the photo. Then, you take the photo off of the surface it is attached to and place it in a try of water so that the paper becomes wet. This allows you to rub off all of the paper layer, leaving just the acrylic gel behind with a transfer of the image on it. The overall effect is super cool. I decided to add some colour into my otherwise black and white gel transfer to add just a little more interest to it. My image is a picture of a river near my grandma's house, so I decided to add some blue paint to the water area of the photo and some green to the trees and plants. To do this, I mixed a tiny bit of each colour acrylic paint into the acrylic gel and added another layer of tinted gel over the the area that I wanted the colour to transfer to on top of all the other layers. Once the paper was all rubbed off and the image was dry, the result was pretty cool. I decided to make what was originally the back of the photo the front, because the colours on that side were not as strong or streaky and the colour just shone through. I really like the way it looks when it is held up against the light, so I think I will probably use it as a window covering or something, that way it will catch the light and look super pretty. This project was very different and fun, and I am excited to try out some more alternative processes.

Photo was taken with aperture f4.5 and shutter speed 1/100, with a Nikon D3100 camera and 18-55mm lens.

FIELD TRIP

Here are some more pictures from our field trip that I really enjoyed :)

Photojournalism

This week, we had to shoot a photojournalism assignment while on our field trip to this year's OCAD Grad Exhibit. We had to take a photo that somehow told a story about our day, and this was my final result. This picture was taken with a Nikon D3100 camera and 18-55mm lens, with an aperture of f8 and shutter speed of 1/125

  I really love this photo a lot. I met this man on Queen Street and asked him if I could take a picture to document a topic that I feel really strongly about, which is the way that society regards homeless people. A huge percent of the population looks down on the homeless and acts as if they are always at fault for their misfortune, when that is often not the case at all. A common myth in regards to homelessness is that the majority homeless people are schizophrenic and therefore dangerous, or lazy and unwilling to find a job. Both of these are not true. In fact, only 6% of the homeless population in Toronto is reported to suffer from schizophrenia, and 26% of Canadian families with employed family members do not make enough money to be able to afford a proper home. The most common reason for homelessness is lack of ability to pay rent, which is true for 53% of the homeless population, while reasons such as drug and alcohol abuse are only about 8%. People automatically assume that any money the homeless receive from begging they will use negatively, and use that as an excuse to not give them anything. I think, however, that if you have the opportunity to help someone out and it will cost you literally a few dollars, then there is no reason that you shouldn't take it. It could help them out in a huge way, and will have little to no impact on your life. A large population of the Canadian homeless do not have access to basic human necessities and consequently die from conditions such as lack of food or extreme heat/cold. Many of them also suffer from various affective disorders such as bipolar disorder and are simply not getting the amount of help they need from mental health institutions, preventing them from being fully functional members of society. To them, just a few dollars could make a big difference.

     The man in this photo was incredibly kind, and I was so glad he let me take a picture of him. He was super funny and told me that he charges $50 per photo, but I did not have that much money so we had to compromise a little bit. However, he was very nice about it and as soon as I saw the picture I knew that it was the one I was going to use for this assignment. I love the honesty of his sign, that he wants people to know that he is a good person who has just fallen on hard times and not a bad person attempting to take advantage of people. It is kind of hard to see, but there is also a little note on the sign that reads "Hoodie was gift!!", which I also love. It makes me so so happy to know that there are people in the world who are so abundantly kind to others, and also inspires me to better myself in that way too. 

   I can definitely see this photo on the front of the Toronto Star, as I think that this issue is one that people need to be made aware of. As a society, we should be working supporting these people who are being denied basic human rights and working to abolish homelessness altogether. Instead, however, we are ignoring them and pretending that they don't exist, as if that will make the problem go away. I think that this shameful behaviour needs to stop now, and we as a society just need to focus on helping to solve this problem instead of stupidly hoping it will fix itself. This picture conveys this message perfectly to me, and I hope that others can look at it and see the meaning behind it too.

Breaking the Rules?!

This assignment took me approximately 10 years to shoot, because I had absolutely no clue how to make it interesting. The idea was to break all the rules of composition but create captivating, dynamic photos at the same time, which I found incredibly hard to do. When it came to what subject matter I wanted to photograph, I hit a massive wall and could not think of one idea. So, to fix this problem, I just started carrying my camera around with me over the weekend and taking pictures of things that I thought were interesting or exciting. After many, many attempts, here is what I ended up with. All pictures were shot with a Nikon D3100 and a 18-55mm lens.

aperture f5.6, shutter speed 1/13

This first picture is of a fish that I found in my basement that I did not know existed but apparently has been in our house for a long time, so I thought it would be appropriate to document the experience. This photo breaks the rules for a couple of reasons. The very front of the fish's head, the subject of the photo, is right in the middle of the image instead of a rule of thirds position, and it's not even in focus. Both of these things are breaking some of the key rules of composition, but somehow with the rest of the fish's body and the background being in focus, it seems to work. Additionally, the rock and the plant on the left side of the photo and lack of anything on the right throw off the balance and make the photo appear as though it is very heavy on one side. The glass of the tank on the right side of the photo shows the reflection of the rest of the tank, which makes the picture look kind of awkward and out of the ordinary, but still very dynamic. Even though the fish is in captivity, the vantage point of the photo makes it look like he's breaking out of the tank and trying to get free, whereas if it was taken from a different angle it would look pretty ordinary and boring. The colours on the fish's body as well as the bright rocks at the bottom of the tank make the photo lively and intriguing, and the blurriness of the fish's head makes the photo a little bit different and more interesting to look at.

aperture f3.5, shutter speed 1/60

This second picture is of a tiny patch of grass I drove by over the weekend that I thought was really beautiful, so I decided to stop and take some pictures. I literally found it in between a bunch of houses and it looked so abrupt and out of place, since there were no other signs of flowers or anything else surrounding it. This is a sign that spring is finally upon us, and some early flowers like these ones are finally starting to come up, which makes me so so happy. I really hate winter  and spring has been taking such a long time to get here this year that I was convinced it was never going to happen, but when I saw this beautiful area in the middle of nowhere that was so naturally beautiful and serene, it brightened my day very much. This particular area had so many flowers in bloom already that it looked really incredible among the rest of the barren trees and ground. This lovely trick of nature proves that even out of nothing, some of the most beautiful things can grow.
      This photo breaks the rules in that it doesn't really have a main subject that draws your eye in right away. The bright blue colour of the flowers stands out from the other earthy tones in the photo, and so your eyes follow them towards the back of the picture, with the flowers becoming increasingly dense along the way. That technically makes them the subject, but when you first look at the image there is not one area that you would automatically look at first. The trees are all over the place in no apparent sequence or pattern, which according to basic rules of photography, is a bad thing. I think, however, that in this picture it just seems to work. After all, nature doesn't grow according to the elements and principles of design. If there was yet another subject added to the photo then it would detract from the flowers and the point of the image would no longer be about the natural beauty of nature, but instead the image would not really have a meaning at all.

Aperture f7.1, shutter speed 1/6

This final photo was taken at the yoga studio where I work. I really love yoga and all the positive aspects it brings to my life, and getting to spend time with all the other people there who share this feeling makes me feel so incredible. This studio is really gorgeous full of knick knacks that I have always loved; they make it such an inviting space that I can really connect to and enjoy spending time in. This table in particular has a jumble of things sitting on it that I really like and jumped at the opportunity to photograph. For example, there are 4 different statues of Buddha in this picture alone, which represent different things like wisdom and peaceful intentions. There are also some potted plants, as well as a wooden sculpture that reads "inspire", which is a really beautiful word. The whole area gives off a very positive vibe. This photo is rule breaking in many ways. Firstly, this picture has no balance. Everything is arranged on the table at random, with the left side looking a lot heavier than the right. Many of the objects on the table also sort of blend into each other, creating different mergers all over the place. The left side of the photo is also somewhat engulfed in shadows, which makes it appear much darker than the rest of the photo and adds to its imbalance. To top it all off, the photo is not taken straight on but instead on a slant, which creates the illusion that everything is going to fall out of the picture. All of these things together work to make this photo harmoniously disheveled. This is kind of representative of life, which is just a jumble of  occurrences that all culminate to develop your character and ultimately shape you into the person you are. If everything in the image were perfectly neat and pristine, then the image would lose its meaning and would just become a picture of a boring old table.