Historical Photography Articles

Joel Sternfeld, American Prospects

Joel Sternfeld’s American Prospects

All photographs © Joel Sternfeld Originally beginning as a traditional street photographer, Joel Sternfeld set out to switch things up. Following in the footsteps of Walker Evans 40 years earlier, Sternfeld embarked on an eight-year trip around the country with an 8×10 view camera and color film – at a time where acceptance for color […]

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Matt Weber Street Photography

Matt Weber, Former Taxi Driver and New York Street Photographer

The Street Photography of Matt Weber As a former self-described ‘mediocre’ graffiti artist and taxi driver photographing the streets of New York since 1978, Matt Weber has explored countless miles throughout the city and seen a little bit of everything. The subjects in his photographs range from fights to embraces, from the homeless to 5th Avenue,

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Robert Frank, The Americans

A Foreigner’s Road Trip – Robert Frank’s America

Despite being born in Switzerland, Robert Frank defined and diagnosed America in the ’50s in ways that his contemporaries couldn’t. While his peers were photographing the optimistic and prosperous 50’s post-war United States, Frank’s photography took a stark and much more realistic turn. Frank’s childhood was difficult – in the 1930s, the fear of Hitler

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A Cup of Tea – The History and Photography of Martin Parr

All photographs copyright Martin Parr. “Fashion pictures show people looking glamorous. Travel pictures show a place looking at its best, nothing to do with the reality. In the cookery pages, the food always looks amazing, right? Most of the pictures we consume are propaganda.” – Martin Parr. On the surface, the work of Martin Parr

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Photographing the ‘Boring,’ the History and Photography of William Eggleston

All photographs copyright Eggleston Artistic Trust William Eggleston may be one of the most celebrated and misunderstood photographers in history. Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1939 and raised in Mississippi, Eggleston was an introverted man born into a wealthy aristocratic family of former plantation owners. Eggleston was influenced by Robert Frank’s The Americans, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s

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The History and Photography of Bruce Davidson, Subway Photographer Extraordinaire

New York City. 1980. Subway. All photographs copyright Bruce Davidson/Magnum While not strictly a New York photographer, Bruce Davidson has created some of the most iconic New York photographs of the 20th century. Born in 1933 near Chicago, Davidson’s subjects have including the Civil Rights Movement in the early ’60s, a Brooklyn gang, Spanish Harlem, circus performers, and

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Garry Winogrand Portrait

Pounding the Pavement – The History and Photography of Garry Winogrand

While Henri-Cartier Bresson’s name gets thrown around as the godfather of street photography, I would argue that when many people think of the genre, what first pops into their heads is the style of Garry Winogrand, and he would probably be turning in his grave right now given that he famously hated the term. The

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