Harlem, 1960

Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a place I have been there once. He started capturing instances of New York with black and white films, experimenting later with colour photographs. Most of the photographs are taken in New York, near his apartment in East Village for almost 55 years.

Straw Hat, 1955

Colour Versus Black and White Photography

Although he is best known for his colour photography he had captured some extraordinary black and white scenes. Leiter began shooting with colour film in 1948, more than two decades before colour photography gained acceptance in the art world through the work of William Eggleston and others.

Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter’s Style

Leiter isolates a scene, a scene many people have not noticed otherwise, and the director of the set is the life itself. He was the one to identify these wonderful scenes in everyday life and share them to his audience. Aggressive, yet clear and distinct Leiter’s photographs would definitely can be hanging on my walls.

Dean Brierly suggested the following about Leiter’s photography: “Leiter might be regarded as the master of the indecisive moment – those in-between moments when nothing of much importance seems to be happening but which resonate with a profound if understated sense of interior drama“. The result is impressive. Enjoy.

Haircut, 1956

Taxi, 1957

Circa, 1948

Circa, 1958

Waiter, Paris, 1959

Reflection, 1958

Menu, Paris, 1959

Phone-call, 1957

Taxi, 1956

Train

Driver, 1950

Through Boards, 1957

Red Curtain, 1958

Pizza, 1952

Auto, 1960

New York, 1954