Thats also something that kind of defines his style as many people would label it as abstract expressionism.

Sometimes when you look at his pictures I feel like you are not immediately aware what the subject is.

When characterising the themes in his photographs I would say he liked to shoot umbrellas, different kinds of weather such as heavy snow and rain and he also greatly used negative space that gives his photos a kind of minimalist touch and abstraction. He said “I was more fascinated by raindrops on the window than taking a photo of a famous person”. “ - Saul LeiterĪs we can see he was more interested in shapes, light and colors than peoples expressions. “I believe If I may be old-fashioned I believe there is such a thing as search for beauty. Unlike many other photographers at that time who shot mostly black and white he liked to shoot colors and used his unique perception to utilise them. He found a liking in this search for beauty on the streets. Saul was not only doing photography for work but also, as we can say now-days, for pleasure. and even thought those photos are pretty good you might be wondering why I picked Saul and want to talk about him. He worked for fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle or Harper’s Bazar. He spent the majority of his career documenting the neighbourhood of Manhattan’s East Village but he also shot commercially. It was actually Smith who encouraged him to pursue photography.

In his classes he befriended Richard Pousette-Dart who was a painter as well as William Eugene Smith America photojournalist. His early paintings were full of colours and inspired by expressionism. At first he actually wanted to become a painter and when he came to Manhattan he enrolled in art school. He actually got his first camera (which was a Detrola camera) long before this time from his mother. influenced by his father he studied to become a Rabbi but he left theology school and moved to New York at the age of 23 to become an artist. Saul Leiter was born in Pittsburg and it seemed for a long time that he would go in a different direction than being an artist.

Saul leiter photography