Happy Birthday Weegee
Much has been written about Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, but once you hear him speak in his own voice, study his photos, and watch his story, there is no turning back.
I sometimes wonder if he would ever have imagined that so many people would remember him today.
Weegee was a freelance nocturnal photographer covering Manhattan police headquarters from 1920 to the 1960s. Weegee has an amazing history. Most of the time he would shoot murders, fires, and accidents — but somehow they are artistic — and he liked to capture the dark side of human nature.
Weegee was often able to arrive at crime scenes before the police and had a dark room built into the trunk of his 1938 police radio equipped Chevrolet. He was not only able to capture the emotion of the moment, but he was able to get the photos to the newspapers in record time.
Basically self taught, Weegee only used a 4×5 Speed Graphic camera preset at f/16, 1/1500 of a second with flashbulbs and a set focus distance of ten feet but was able to capture many amazing moments on film.
Weegee fans should see the film The Naked City. The visual style of which was inspired by Weegee.
In the forward of Weegee's book, also titled The Naked City, William McCleery describes Weegee perfectly..
"He will take his camera and ride off in search of new evidence that his city, even in her most drunken and disorderly and pathetic moments, is beautiful."
-William McCleery
Even better is the film The Public Eye. You won't hear Weegee's name in it because the producers were unable to secure the rights to Weegee's story. Subsequently the director/writer Howard Franklin invented a character named Bernzini played by Joe Pesci.
Make no mistake, however. The Public Eye is really a character study loosely based on Weegee, and Joe Pesci plays the part beautifully. It's a must see for anyone even remotely interested in photojournalism, as are the many books that publish Weegee's work.
When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track.”
– Weegee"
In the videos below, you can hear Weegee talk about photojournalism in his own voice (you will hear how mesmerizing that is), watch a clip from the film The Public Eye, and watch a tribute to Weegee with a gallery of his most loved photos.
Today the International Center for Photography in New York City has 20,000 of Weegee's photos. They were last exhibited there in 2006. You can often buy Weegee's photos on web auctions for only a few thousand dollars each — if he only knew.
Weegee was born June 12, 1899. Today, June 12, 2010, I am once again watching the film The Public Eye as my own tribute to Weegee.
I hope you all enjoy Weegee's work as much as I do.
Happy Birthday, Weegee. Thanks for taking me back in time.
(Arthur Fellig June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968)
Suggested Links
- A Video Tribute to Weegee
- Weegee’s own Voice
- A Clip from the film The Public Eye
- about The Naked City
- Photo Album from ICP
- 1945 Radio Interview WEAF NYC
- Radio Interview with Weegee (Transcript)
- Interesting Weegee Blog
- Crime was Weegees Oyster (NY Times)