The Genius of Photography: Paper Movies- New York by William Klein

William Klein-Photographer, Painter, Film-maker

In our latest Understanding the Image class we saw the latest documentary in The Genius of Photography series- episode 4 Paper Movies. This documentary relives the journeys undertaken by photographers to produce some of the most acclaimed paper movies. This particular episode looked at Robert Frank's work during the 1950's, William Klein's  fascination with the side-walks of New York, Garry Winogrand's powerful perception of Central Park Zoo, Tony Ray Jones's work focusing on  the English seaside, and finally, William Eggleton's thoughts on Memphis and the American South.

After watching this documentary, my favorite photo-book would have to be William Klein's  photo-book " New York", where he explored the bustling streets of New York City in great detail.

William Klein is an American-born French painter, photographer and film-maker, and is best known for his ironic approach in photography and film-making. He was born in New York City in the United States on April 19th in 1928, and was born into an impoverished Jewish family. Klein graduated from high school early at the tender age of just 14, and enrolled at the City College of New York to study sociology. When he was 18 he enrolled in the U.S Army, where he served until he was discharged.

 After his discharge from the army, Klein went to study at the University of Paris(commonly known as "The Sorbonne"). He trained as a painter under the guidance of his mentor, French painter Fernand Leger. William Klein had considerable success in this field, but he was dissatisfied. He later became a photographer for Vogue magazine despite having little or no training as a photographer, and became famous for his photographs and photo essays.

Klein later went on to win the Pixar Nadar award in 1957 for his  widely- acclaimed photo-book New York, which was a book of photographs that he had taken when he briefly returned home to New York in 1954, following months of travelling. Klein's work includes the use of wide-angle and telephoto lens, natural light, and also motion blurring. His photo-book focuses mainly on the streets and people hurrying to and from work on a daily basis.

Broadway and 103rd Street, New York- by William Klein (1954-55)

An example of his work where he used wide-angle lens would be the photograph of two children he took on the streets of New York. The photography is in black and white and is eye-catching due to the fact that one of the children is pointing a gun almost into the lens of the camera. The boy turns out to be holding a toy gun but his face is scrunched up, giving him a rather menacing look. In stark contrast to this, we see the other boy, presumably his friend, looking sweet and innocent and blissfully unaware of what is happening. This is perhaps Klein attempting to show that innocence can often get caught up in acts of violence.

Another image shows a boy squatting down on the street. His surroundings appear to be warped around him and this is because William Klein has used a blurring motion technique, where he blurs or distorts what is seen in the photograph. Like the photograph with the two boys, this photograph is also shot in black and white. I find this photograph to be distinctly eye-catching and strange- it's as though we are observing an optical illusion of some kind.

Boy squatting an example of blur motion

William Klein is described to be one of the "fathers" of street photography, and I feel that this title is well deserved. Klein has that rare talent to bring the dark, dull streets of New York to life, and to capture busy passers-by in his lens and make them look extraordinary. In this documentary, Klein is praised for his determination to capture such images and he himself recalls how he would literally "hound people" to get his photos.

 Klein also explains that some of the best photographs can happen by accident, saying: " That's what's interesting in photography-the accidents."  I feel that Klein's photo-book has a faster rhythm compared to that of Robert Frank's. But this is perhaps due to the fact that William Klein is more aggressive, and he is described to possess a great deal of energy. And this particular, excited energy is observed throughout his photo-book New York.