Later in his career, he also got into micro 4/3 and other digital cameras.

Focus on Shapes, Lights, Shadows, Abstractions, and the Colors of Everyday Lifeįor the most part, Leiter shot a Leica 35mm with a telephoto lens, up to 90mm and even 150mm.

His unique, personal style of photography is like none other. Today, he is looked at as a pioneer of color and one of the foremost art photographers of his time. He brought the eye of an abstract painter to Street Photography.īeing one of the first professionals to photograph New York City regularly in color, and in a way no one had seen, his work went practically unknown to the general public for most of his life. Leiter lived a simple life, didn’t worry about fame or recognition, and shot mostly for himself. While always respected by his peers, it wasn’t until the 90’s that he started getting recognized for his work. Instead of loud, gritty black and white, he saw a symphony of colors, shapes, blur, and softness in the streets. Leiter saw the world completely different than his contemporaries at the time. He worked as a fashion photographer for the next 20 years and much of his color work was published in magazines such as Esquire and Harper’s Bazaar. Saul worked around other photographers, like Robert Frank and Diane Arbus, and together they helped form what was termed as the New York School of photographers during the 1940s and 1950s. With a 35mm Leica given to him by Smith, he started taking black and white pictures, but in 1948 he switched to color photography. Eugene Smith and the Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart encouraged Leiter to pursue photography as well. His mother had given him his first camera at age 12, but he had developed more of an early interest in painting. At age 23, he left theology school, though, and moved to New York City to become an artist.

Leiter’s father was a well-known Talmud scholar who influenced Saul to study to become a Rabbi. Profile:Īmerican photographer, painter and pioneer of abstract color Street Photography. I’ll also group them together here every time I add a new one. Unlike the rest of the blog, I’m doing these in a straight profile format to make it easy for quick access to facts, quotes and knowledge on all the masters. * “Master Profiles” is a series profiling all the great photographers of uncontrolled life.

Saul leiter color photography