Paper Movies

Paper movies is a BBC documentary from the series “The Genius of Photography”. This documentary focuses on many different photographers in the 20th century and how their influence contributed to the golden age of photography. There are many extraordinary photographs talked about in this documentary but the one who stood out to me the most was William Klein.

William klein was a photographer who lived in Paris for six years training as an artist before returning to his roots in New York City. Klein specialized in street photography, particularly the busy streets of New York. He wasn’t afraid to approach strangers and direct them to create a unique and captivating photo. Because of this approach he earned the reputation of being an aggressive photographer in the streets.

What I admired most about Klein was how he used things such as cropping and framing to change and mold the meaning of the image. Klein stated that the difference between drawing a portrait and photography is the accidents. Photography doesn’t have to be perfect and that’s what makes it beautiful. Klein’s photography wasn’t perfect, smudges, thumbprints and blurriness contributed in making Klien’s work stand out and be memorable.

Klein was able to engage with his subjects and bring out their real side. This can be seen in his image “Dance in Brooklyn”, where he asked two children who were playing in the street to dance. This resulted in a blurry image that perfectly captures the moment. Had this picture turned out perfect and clear it would not have had the same effect.

Another Image that conveys Klien’s ability to engage with his subjects is in the photo “Gun 1, New York 1954. Klien encountered two kids playing cops and robbers on the street and told them to look tough for the camera. One boy pointed his gun at the camera pulling an angry fave, while the other boy looked shy and timid. Klien stated that the image felt like he was looking into a self portrait. He could relate to both boys in the photo, despite them being polar opposites of one another. I admired how Klien could relate to his subjects and see himself reflected in the images.