Usher Fellig was born in Ukraine in 1899 to a Galician Jewish family, moving to the Lower East Side about 10 years later. His family lived in among the tenement residents that came to make up many of the photographs of Weegee’s career. After moving to New York, Weegee changed his name to Arthur Fellig, finally picking up the nickname Weegee while working as a squeegee boy in a darkroom printing other people’s pictures for about 15 years, according to an interview by his biographer Christopher Bonanos. 

Weegee was an extremely influential photographer, both within the Jewish community and the industry as a whole, in the way he captured the tabloid stories of New York City that affected the immigrant and lower-class population during the 1930s and 40s. His photo book, Naked City, is arguably one of the most popular photobooks and reached a vast audience at its time of release in 1945 due to Weegee’s innovative and expressive perspective on photography. 

In the book, he features many different narrative groups such as crime scenes, fires, circus arts, sleeping citizens, etc. of photographs that he shot in New York City at this time. The most common way to describe Weegee’s photography across all these areas is the tabloid perspective of capturing images as he shot for many magazines and newspapers that featured the stories, yet unlike other tabloid photographers, Weegee cared deeply about the narratives that he captured. Spending so many years in the darkroom, working up the slow ladder to become a tabloid photographer, Weegee held an excited, eager outlook on snapping photographs of New York City’s murders, opera houses, tenement fires, public displays of affection, etc. that he features in his book. He received special permission from the police to install a police radio in his car as well as a bell in his room connected to the Fire Department’s alarms. With each new grim crime, Weegee arrived on the scene before everybody else, encouraging a reputation for being a psychic, by snapping and sending out the photograph before most bystanders even had a chance to look at the crime scene. 

However, when shooting, Weegee focused on a different side of the crime scene. He did always capture the still body on the city sidewalk or the tenement building on fire, but more often than not, as can be seen, by the many crime scene photos he chose to include in Naked City, Weegee captured the reactions of those affected by the terrors. Flipping his camera towards those glaring desperately at the scene with him, Weegee was able to display real, human emotions as these victims experience one of the worst moments of their lives. He was “watching the watchers” as Dean Karayanis put it in the interview he conducted with Bonanos. 

At a tenement building fire, Weegee captured this photograph of two women – a mother and her daughter – aching in grief watching their home burn down. With his camera flash, he was able to shadow the background, adding detail to the women’s faces for viewers to really feel their deep, gut-wrenching cries. We know Weegee experienced this same reaction from his title, “I Cried When I Took This Picture,” bringing his own emotional pull into his work. Underneath this photograph in his book, Weegee provided the caption: “Mother and daughter cry and look up hopelessly as another daughter and her young baby are burning to death in the top floor of the tenement…firemen couldn’t reach them in time…on account of the stairway collapsing.” In photos like this one of victims, as well as photographs of murdered bodies, Weegee makes it a note to include captions detailing as much of the narrative as we can assume he was able to pick up on the scene. For most of his other photographs in the book, his captions lack this detailed, narrativized description and typically address the place or person featured in the photograph. This simple difference separates Weegee as a tabloid photographer, where his deepest passion lies.

I try to humanize the news story. Of course I ran into snags with the dopey editors. If it was a fire, they’d say, “Where’s the burning building?” I says, “Look, they all look alike.” I says, “Look, here’s the people affected by the burning building.” Well, some understood it and some didn’t. – Weegee (BOMB Magazine, 07/01/1987)

What I find most notable about all of the photographs, no matter the genre is the way Weegee captures the faces of those in the camera and explores emotion. This topic interests me the most as in the general photography sense, most of the narratives shot by photographers are very specific to the time and place in history when they are shot, limiting the connection viewers of these photographs can make with what they are seeing. For example, looking at Weegee’s photographs of a young girl watching Frank Sinatra perform live, I cannot relate to this situation, yet I can relate to feeling the giddy smile, desperate cry, swooning eyes, and ecstasy of happiness she is displaying through her facial expressions. Although my situational connection to the emotions is different than hers – my giddy smile came from watching my sister win her championship basketball game and my desperate cry happened when I walked out of my childhood home for the last time, this girl and I share a relation that allows me to identify with her and her photographs.

I chose Weegee and Naked City specifically when exploring this theme because of the truthfulness of all of the subject’s emotions as Weegee was always first on the scene for whatever event he was photographing, whether it be a crime scene, a tenement building fire or an opera performance. He listened closely to the police radio and was “on call” at all times to get to people at the height of their emotional displays, showing just how much he truly cared about photography as an art form and a form of storytelling. Even when these photographs are taken out of his book, losing their detailed captions, the emotions of the subject’s faces elicit a feeling within viewers to either empathize or draw intrigue into the stories of these people’s lives. In photos that feature multiple subjects, mostly candids, the differences between each subject’s expressions tell stories of status and struggle within the city’s tiered economy. With smiling cops next to worried prisoners, bedazzled women smiling for the spotlight with worried faces of poorer folk hiding in the shadows in the background, laughing children held by overworked and dreary-eyed parents, Weegee captures moments of facial expressions that contrast with one another, creating a fantastical view into a real experience.

Throughout his life as a photographer, Weegee shot many different types of photographs, from mail-order catalog photographs to freelance news photography to Hollywood celebrity portraits and more, which all contributed to his long list of published photobooks and his credibility as a photographer. Naked City features the photographs he took during his time as a freelance news photographer in New York City which are arguably his most influential and notable photographs. The book also features an entire chapter on camera tips from Weegee that explain how he captures his shots. For these news photos as well as all of his others in the street photography genre, Weegee used a 4×5 Speed Graphic camera with a Kodak Ektar Lens in a Supermatic shutter, however for my reference, his style while using this camera is more notable to consider.

In all of his photos, day or night, Weegee used flash to get rid of unwanted background detail while framing the subject nicely and creating a contrast between the two, to bring out a gritty black-and-white style and create a sense of intimacy between the camera and the subjects. This contrast is important to capture as it can draw the irony out of a situation, creating an intriguing photograph, and is done by exploring every perspective of a moment. No moment exists in a vacuum, isolated and solely consequential to itself, so it is necessary to consider everything that comes into effect to lead to a moment and notice all of the ways these consequences can be captured. I will take this note into consideration when snapping my photographs by paying attention to every detail in the background that can enhance the irony of the subject’s faces and expressions in the foreground, giving the photo dimension.

In terms of how to know what shots to capture and when to snap the photograph, Weegee believes that you shouldn’t tell people to pose, you simply have to wait for that breathless moment that only lasts a split second before it’s dead. Because he worked with flash bulbs and limited film, Weegee emphasized not shooting everything in sight but instead being meticulous with how you are using your film and shots. I am working with a digital camera, giving me no limit on how many photographs I can take, but I still want to capture the importance of these candid, emotional moments so I will be trying to take as few photographs of each moment as I can.

The main technique to follow in Weegee’s photography is the flawless capturing of a beautiful moment where the photograph feels like it is freezing the moment in time and recreating the momentary emotional experience for all viewers. Weegee’s best notes on how to achieve this beauty of expression are by having a good attitude towards the images you are capturing, you are not taking these photographs because you have to, but instead, you are interested in what you are viewing in the lens while being relaxed and comfortable with the camera and the subjects, and putting composition and lighting in secondary importance, simply focusing on the emotion you are eager to capture. He placed a great emphasis on what was important enough to capture, saving his film for times that he felt were deserving. 

“In other words, I am a perfectionist. When I take a picture, if it’s a murder or if it’s a drunk, it’s got to be good.” – Weegee (BOMB Magazine, 06/01/1987)

Below are some images of Weegee’s that capture all of these different photo techniques together with contrasting the background and subjects, catching the breathless, emotional moment for reliving, and showing true connection and care to the subjects within the photographs. 

Although these images are different than what I intend to capture, I wanted to include them as I feel they represent his photographic style very well in both the way he frames and captures the photograph as well as the emotions he chooses to freeze in time. In my own inspired work, I will follow Weegee’s two notes on freezing the moment in time and caring a good attitude toward every photograph I choose to capture. I will take photographs of natural moments in my life where I am doing something I feel positive about, just as Weegee chose to do in his own life. I will be focusing on these moments specifically in order to produce the most natural photographs. I am personally not a strong photographer to understand framing or shadowing as Weegee is able to in each of his photographs but through this research, I have learned a little about how I can frame my own photographs, on my iPhone, to relate well to Weegee’s. My plan is to see every moment I want to capture through the lens of my camera, including background structures and lighting to bounce off my subject’s in the best way possible. Since I will be taking photographs of people, I am going to focus on the composition of these various subjects within my shot to create an enticing photograph. 

As I stated, I will be taking my pictures on my iPhone, however afterward I will edit a black-and-white filter onto the photographs. I know that Weegee only took photographs in black and white out of lack of choice, but there is a power to this absence of coloring and I feel that my photographs need to be inspired by him in this way as well. I will also use another editing technique of framing and cropping of the photographs, just as Weegee has done for many of the photographs in his book, to create a dynamic and emotional picture. Other than these edits, I will not make any changes to the subjects themselves or warp any part of the image away from reality. 

I’ve taken a lot of time diving deep into Weegee’s flawless capturing of photos to find the best way to recreate his intention and eagerness within my own photography and…

The pictures are here. In my original photographs, I stuck by my original methodology in following Weegee’s two notes on freezing the moment in time and caring a good attitude towards every photograph I chose to capture. I took photographs of natural moments in my life when I was spending time with family and friends. Originally, I believed I would take photographs of different situations such as times when I was by myself or exploring my hometown over break. However, I noticed, looking back on my photographs, that I only stuck to times when I was surrounded by my loved ones, a not-surprising, but interesting look into my priorities. During these times, I noticed that I am happiest and feel that taking a photograph was exactly what I wanted to do to preserve the moment. Personally, when I am alone or participating in something uninteresting or upsetting, I do not want the moment to last and do not think about taking out my camera to snap a photograph. For example, I intended to capture crime-scene-esque photographs, similar to Weegee’s, however, while reflecting on the photographs I did capture, I noticed that there were times when those around me experienced a strong negative emotion that would make for an excellent “watching the watchers” comparison photograph, but I couldn’t snap the picture. Completely unconsciously, my mind did not want to make this moment last in time and so I decided to resort to Weegee’s other photographs in Naked City. 

I took many photos of the time I spent with my friends and family, mostly candid shots of smiles, laughter, and happiness. Although I was aware of the assignment, of course, while taking photographs, I ended up producing pictures from the times I wasn’t thinking about it, times of pure comfort, peace, and fun. Being in this comfortable, happy space gave me a stronger connection to the camera and allowed me to really pay attention to all the emotions that seep through the expressions of those around me.  Diverting backward a little, I did of course find a lot of inspiration from Weegee besides his personal suggestion to take photographs of moments you want to freeze in time. I followed through with my editing process of filtering and framing the photographs, which was very exciting in the moment as I felt I was replicating – in a modern, easier way – Weegee’s time as a dark room printer, creating the final project photographs for other photographers. I was able to see my inspiration photos connect to his a lot better when I took off the color and made my framing the same as his and now I have a full collection of my modernized photographs that look like his. 

My actual approach to taking the photographs was focused on candid shots. Weegee does have many photographs within his book where the subjects are looking at the camera, however, none of his Naked City subjects are posed and are simply looking at the camera because of the flash and slower aperture time. With the speed of my phone camera, I did not want to pose any of my subjects or draw attention to the camera to capture that pure candidness. I do feel that I failed Weegee in my lack of technique during my photo-capturing process as I had a hard time paying attention to shadows and lighting while also creating a happy, frozen shot. I felt more connected to the subject’s emotions than the skill of my camera work, which I can commend myself for as a novice photographer, but when compared to Weegee who is able to flawlessly understand both aspects in one single shot, my photos are not worthy of the highest note, at least for the tabloids. 

Another issue I ran into was Weegee’s capturing of public displays of affection in Coney Island, the Bowery, and on the city streets. He opened up a very private experience to the public. I intended to find spaces where I could explore these affectionate moments, however, I ran into issues with my friends who did not want to participate in these PDA moments for the cause of my photography. I noticed this genre of voyeuristic photography was met with a lot of embarrassment from my friends around me who would be the subjects, even when I told them I could capture the photograph without revealing their faces or identities, much like a few of Weegee’s own PDA photographs. Originally I was impressed with Weegee’s ability to snap these photographs shamelessly, yet as I explored more into his life, I noticed that perhaps these photographs were taken for a different intention than a love story narrative. In a Bonanos interview on the History Author Show, Bonanos revealed many mutual connections of Weegee reported that he was very self-obsessed and talked mainly about himself at the first time of meeting somebody. He also, as Bonanos puts him, “seems to have hit on every woman he ever met,” encouraging me to side with the more voyeuristic, sexualized perspective of these photographs. 

Overall, I believe that I shot a modernized version of Weegee’s photographs. He and I have lived very different lives, our perhaps only similarity is having a nickname for our photography (my friends would call me MTV for being the group photographer and constantly taking videos of all of our fun times), so replicating his photographs was a hard task to do. Yet, as I scroll through my chosen pictures, I notice that they compare in theme to Weegee and explore the way in which his photography fits into my life as a 21st-century girl, in college in the midwest, from a big city, enjoying time with friends. I truly did capture a lot of moments that mean a lot to me and I would gladly post them front cover of my personal tabloid newspaper.

My photographs:

The two images below were the two images that I felt most successful after capturing them.

The first image is my “Sorority Basement” photograph that resembles Weegee’s “Tenement Penthouse” very well as I explore in my slideshow and I was so grateful to have been able to capture that purely candid photograph as it compared so well with Weegee’s image. Because my subjects were sleeping and therefore laying still, I had extra time to practice Weegee’s techniques on framing and lighting the image correctly which required me to stand on the armrest of the couch and tilt my phone under the light seeping through the windows laid on my subjects as I wanted it to. Of course, I do not see this photograph as perfect and I could’ve shot it in a million different ways, but I was happy that I was able to find an image like the one Weegee captured and snag it before it was gone. This photo is also of a few of my close friends and is dear to my heart now to have this memory of the cuddles on our couch.

The second image is one I titled “Reaction to the band’s opening song,” a very Weegee-type title. I ended up comparing this image to a reaction shot Weegee included in Naked City, but when I took this photograph I was not thinking of a direct comparison. I am very proud of this photograph because I believe it is the most candid and expressive shot I got out of all of my photographs. The two people in the photo are my friend and my twin sister and I grabbed this picture quickly, holding down the shutter button on my phone. Going back I would like to fix the framing as I don’t particularly love my other friend’s face in the background, the boy with his mouth open, but in some way, it adds to the candidness of the photograph. I feel this is the best reaction shot I took because of the way both of my subjects are so purely excited in each other’s arms, sharing this wonderful moment together. 

Slideshow: My photographs placed next to their inspired Weegee photograph

In the end, I did come to learn a lot about the infamous Weegee who reigned the New York City tabloid photography industry in the 1930s and 1940s. Prior to my research on Weegee, my understanding of him was that he was the greatest tabloid photographer to exist due to the fame of his Naked City book and I assumed he was well-respected among the New York City photographers of the 20th century. He seemingly gave a voice to the lower class and I viewed his work through the same social activism lens as Jacob Riis’ work for his book How the Other Half Lives. Riis created this photobook to showcase the unfortunate lives of those who live in squalid conditions in New York City and demanded a social change for these individuals, much like what I assumed Weegee’s intentions were in his images of the victims of tenement fires or needless murders. But, as I explored his work and took my own photos inspired by him, I began to question the intentions of his photobook and viewed his work more as a simple demonstration of life in the city in the 1930s-40s. His captions on his photographs did not call out for any help for those afflicted by these saddening situations but instead read as an informational description to add more sense to the photograph. I understood how his purpose in his photography was more focused on newspaper and magazine content and his images of the “watchers” came out of his own method of making a photograph interesting rather than giving space for these victims to tell their story. His photography of emotion grew a different meaning as well through these revelations as the truthfulness I so admired in these images was due to Weegee’s skill of snapping a photo at the perfect time rather than using that image to explore a deeper discussion into emotion and expression. He never expressed his vision as one of activism, so I hesitate to create a judgment towards him for prioritizing his own gain.
Nonetheless, I did grow a lot of respect for his dedication to be a photographer and work aimlessly to climb up the ranks and make a name for himself in the industry of his hobby. Although his personality might not be one I would specifically get along with, with his sloppiness of cigar burns on his jacket or his shy yet self-obsession, I do admire his photographic donations to the world and I deeply admire his ability to create these compelling photographs as they created a great visual for the lives of the rich and poor in New York at the time.

Understanding his photographs in this new lens changed the way I originally intended to shoot my inspired pictures to focus more on what life looks like – in my sense – in the 21st century rather than make a more social statement with my images. Developing his photographic image into the 21st century, especially through the universal subject of emotion helped me understand that although I feel so separated from those subjects in Weegee’s photographs, we truly are not that different. Especially when creating my slideshow of comparison photographs between his and mine, I noticed just how relatable emotional expressions were and how unchanging they are over time. I understood this feeling before when comparing myself to his photographs of the girl at the Frank Sinatra concert, yet I did not grasp just how relatable emotion can be within photographs until I looked at the ones I took to replicate his.

Weegee was an extremely powerful photographer with his ability to snap an image at the most candid and perfect moment while also framing the image to be one that can go in newspapers and magazines. I believe that he deserves the fame he has attracted for himself and Naked City truly stands as a beautiful representation of his abilities and creativity in representing those who inhabited New York City in the mid-20th century.

Naked City, Weegee 1945

https://bombmagazine.org/articles/weegee/

YouTube: Remaking A Murder

YouTube: Christopher Bonanos Interview

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/28/weegee-the-famous-the-voyeur-and-exhibitionist 

https://www.thecrankycamera.com/blog/weegees-secrets 

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jacob-riis/overview.html#:~:text=Harrowing%20images%20of%20tenements%20and,legacy%20linking%20photojournalism%20with%20reform