Gotta say, I like Winogrand but Klein is the man for me when it comes to American street photography of the 1950s and 60s. Not just his work but the man has an amazing character and is fascinating to listen speak about his work.
Here’s a superb little short film with him talking about his work, starting with a little description of what the contact -sheet means for him. It’s why I miss film. In many ways it’s the only reason I miss film: seeing my shots, my thought-processes, laid out on one sheet of paper. Thirty-six frames; my hits, my misses… all laid bare.
“The sheet of contacts: 36-exposures, six strips of six photographs, taken one after the other. You read them from left to right like a text: it’s like the diary of a photographer.”
Part two is here, including shots of Klein’s from Tokyo.
Hans ter Horst
September 27, 2011
Thanks for sharing, very interesting. Did people behave more kindly to street photography at that time? I have had great results in Tokyo and in Japan, but here in London I feel more threatened to shoot people or crowds (plus the police assumes that you’re a terrorist if you carry a (D)SLR)
Alex Carrasco
September 29, 2011
Great great great book on this subject, featuring the contact sheets out of which came many iconic photos.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contact-Sheet-Steve-Crist/dp/0978607694/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317225041&sr=8-1
A must read. You don’t only get one picture, you get the story behind it, both on words and in pictures