Semester B: Discourse Work
Yet the name Fellig means nothing to most people, as he was known then and even now as Weegee, a nicknamed he acquired through his ability to arrive at scenes within minutes of the crime and usually before the authorities arrived. This and the fact that he was the only reporter with a permit to have a portable police radio1; he became one of the best photojournalists of his time. He even drove around with a fully functional darkroom in the back of his car as to get his work into the press faster.
As primarily a night time photographer, this is a somewhat rare daytime photograph. It features a recent car accident victim but Weegee himself actually set up the shot by adding the steering wheel in the victim’s hand. I think his use of irony in the photo is clever, especially with how he has frozen the two speeding cars in the background. (1939)
Weegee eventually moved on from crime scenes and went onto experimenting with films, panoramic and manipulations. Just like I mentioned in my last blog, Weegee also did all his editing in the darkroom, making these images really quite impressive. I think this is true even more so when you realise that he actually had no formal training in the subject and he was just in fact a self taught photographer.
An example of some of Weegee's later work on the people of New York City (1947)
1. Unknown. (2008). Weegee. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee (Accessed: 17 April 2008).
Image Credits:
Purcell, KW. (2004). Weegee. London: Phaidon.
Stettner, L. (ed.) (1977). Weegee. New York: Knopf.
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