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.