Saul Leiter

 October 3, 2021


Saul Leiter 

By: Connor Albaugh 


        After taking on a “composition focused” unit, we have suddenly transitioned into a color and light section of photography. The amount of artists that possess the ability and talent to capture different settings with different colors and lights is incredible. However, the one artist that stood out to me and stood above all of the other artist in this specific unit happened to be “Saul Leiter.” Saul, born in Pittsburgh in the year of 1923, saw himself in love with two things: painting and photography (Article 1) . From this point on and his move to New York City in the year of 1946, he spent a lot of time mastering his craft with art and photography which allowed him to become one of the best photographers in the twentieth century. 

        Saul Leiter is a very important, yet interesting photographer. When he moved to New York to pursue painting at 23 years old, it was a big move for him. Moving at a particularly young age is hard because of the risks that are involved if failure is met. This wasn’t in the mind of Saul. Moving to New York for his love of painting really gave him a new perspective for the world and painting itself. Not only was painting important to him, but photography started to take over Saul and allowed his personality and creativity to shine. He can thank “expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart” because this was the man who introduced him to photography in the first place (Article 2). From this point on, his career in photography started to boom. Saul’s painting background really had an impact on the photos he took. Saul Leiter has a very “painting-like” style of photography. This means that he liked to take photographs in a way that happened to be compressed, shield out distracting elements, and show a lot of detail. Use the image displayed at the top of this blog post as an example. Saul liked to use a lot of lenses, but usually used a “telephoto perspective” which happened to be shown through a 150 mm lense (Article 2). Having a shallow depth of field through this type of lense helped to compress the subjects and the details so it would allow viewers to key in on all of the details. His photographs also eliminated distracting elements so the human eye wouldn’t be wanting to wander at useless things. In this image, the color orange is very prominent, the man with the cigarette in his mouth is the focal point, and background signs and words help to bring the image together. Many photographs and photographers like to capture a lot of things in their image, but it can often be misleading because the viewer doesn’t know what to look at or what the image is trying to convey to them. In the image above, it is clear at what is being portrayed, and shows solidarity and cohesion because everything displayed is seen in a specific order (man, truck, signs with lettering, and the background color). It has a painter feel because there are so many colors and the depth of these colors and objects makes for a great image. I really like this style of photography because one photo can tell a thousand words and there wont be any questions as to why certain things are in an image. Certain colors stand out and more coherent details can be seen because of how close a lense makes a viewer to the photograph. Other photos he takes capture things like rain, in and around windows, and certain angles all account for a “painter-like” feeling in his art of photography (Article 2). In a painting, a lot of colors are used to make an image and allow it to stand out. Saul does this with his photography in the sense that in the front and background of the photo using a telephoto perspective, different colors are brought out and viewers can see them in depth and admire their great detail. But, many of his images don’t have a specific meaning and he leaves this to his viewers to find meaning and purpose for their thoughts. His ability to convey his feelings and color in the eyes of painting also depict certain moods and ideas that we may see in everyday life. It hits me on a physical and emotional level because I often see his images and their messages as an example of things that I have experienced on a daily basis like a foggy day or a sunny and happy day where colors and background elements are highlighted well. This can be from the sunlight or after a rain storm where lighting and mood change due to the surroundings and weather patterns that occur. 

        Not only did his images stand out to me and many others, but he had an incredible impact in the field of painting and photography. You can see through the images that he took and the detail that is seen that he has a lot of passion and visual awareness. Every single photograph shows different colors and a different perspective that is not normal to the human eye. For example, he took a photograph focusing on subjects close to him and had a blurry background but was still able to capture colors in front and in the background of the image. Additionally, taking a photo of a stand behind people displays a different meaning and a viewer who sees this can determine what he feels and sees in the picture. It doesn’t dictate or call for any specific definition or message, but leaves it open to the public eye for personal interpretation. I really enjoy his artwork and I relate to it from a photography perspective. When I take photographs, I like to capture as much detail and foreground in each of my images. But, I usually find many of my images are compressed in a telephoto-like style. Most of my photos do not contain distracting elements or random subjects that a viewer would question. I usually show a lot of color, depth, and clarity in my images because I like how certain objects look and having a shallow depth of field helps bring out definition in the things I take photos of. This is what Saul Leiter is able to do really well and his background with painting (use of color and different shapes) really made his artwork incredibly appealing and interesting to look at. Learning from his work and his ability to go out and capture these wonderful and beautiful scenes of life motivates me to work on my errors and capture more detail in my work for leisure and assignment I will do in the future to come. 


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