Candid Photography: It’s Now Or Never – 15 Of Weegee’s Most Powerful Candid Photos

Arthur Fellig, popularly known as ‘Weegee’ was a photographer who specialized in ‘photographing pages from life’ in his own words. His photographs were never posed, and he made it a point to do masterfully capture true moments of life. He went as far as to install a police radio at home, so he could be the first to photograph the scene of a crime! Interestingly, he began his photography career removing excess water (after the print developing process) from photo prints at the New York Times, and that is why he was then called the ‘Squeegee Boy’! No points for guessing where the name Weegee originated from. Here, we celebrate some of this photographer’s best candid shots.

Summer, Lower East Side 1937

“The people loved their children and, no matter how poor they might be, they managed to dig up the money for my pictures. I would finish the photographs on the contrastiest paper I could get in order to give the kids nice, white, chalky faces. My customers, who were Italian, Polish, or Jewish, liked their pictures dead white.” – Weegee by Weegee: An Autobiography, 1961

Heat Spell, May 23, 1941

Weegee photographed this on a hot summer night in 1941, in the lower east side of NYC. He found these children asleep in a fire escape, and soon after, gave them 2$ for ice cream, which he said the father pocketed!

Café Bella Napoli

Little Italy, July 1944. Residents of Little Italy meet at this café to chat about the latest on the war in Italy, at the time. This image appeared in The New York Mirror.

In Top Hats!

An example of the not-so-glamorous news that Weegee sometimes covered. Charles Sodokoff and Arthur Webber cover their faces with top hats, soon after they are arrested on charges of felony. The boys were arrested after they decided to slide down banisters just for kicks, after a few drinks each! Point to be noted – they did try and assault the policeman who was called in.

Joy of Living, April 17,1942

Weegee often covered accident scenes. Here we see the body of an accident victim that the police had covered with newspapers and coats.

Simply Add Boiling Water,1937

Interestingly, the sign on the building is supposed to describe frankfurters, not firemen! Weegee once again appeared at the right time in the right place, to capture this 1937 image.

Norma Devine

Weegee sometimes photographed lively scenes at a joint called ‘Sammys’, very much in contrast to his street photography of accidents and murders. The place was one of Weegee’s refuges when he wanted to escape the gruesome reality of the streets on New York at night.

Lost Child

Coney Island was one of Weegee’s favorite shooting spots, his images portraying a feeling of the arrival of summer. He loved photographing crowds in particular. Here, he portrays a lost child in the hands of an official, awaiting the child’s parents to show up.

Coney Island Again, July 5th, 1952i

Weegee recalls this image as a time when he DIDN’T want to show too many people, but more of sand and sun! The man in the mask is believed to be a laundry man who didn’t want to appear in print. Weegee later remembered that he called himself the spider!

D-Day Invasion, June 7, 1944

The expression of the woman portrays her concern of the D Day invasion. ‘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

The Critic

This is probably Weegee’s most famous image, where he depicts the clashing of upper and lower classes in front of the an Opera house in New York (1943). Interestingly, this is also one of Weegee’s images that is believed to be ‘staged’. According to Louie Liotta, Weegee’s assistant at the time, Weegee had been planning this shot for quite some time. Liotta claims to have picked up the woman on the right, at Sammys, in preparation for the shot, and intoxicated her with alcohol before having her forced into the photograph! Of course, Weegee always maintained that this was a truly candid capture.

Couple Kissing

This couple kissing in a motion picture theater put up quite a show for Weegee! Or maybe he just happened to be at the right place at the right time?

Drunk Man

This classic candid image by Weegee speaks volumes on the consequences of drinking too much of the wrong beverages!

Elevator Shaft

Weegee often photographed accidents, murders and crime scenes. Here we see an image of two men having breathed their last, lying at the bottom of an elevator shaft.

Murder On The Streets

One of Weegee’s most famous images, apparently photographed moments after the time of a murder in New York City.
 
Candid photography is not the easiest of genres. Add to that the fact that Weegee used to shoot mostly at night in the 1930s and 40s, with a 4 x 5 Speed Graphic, and you begin to realize the genius of the man.