Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander

By: Amanda Schaeffer

    In this photograph that Lee Friedlander took, it captured my eyes more than any of the other photographs he took. According to International Center of Photography, Friedlander's photography work was different and unique when he captures moments because he took pictures of people on the street walking or passing by and also putting his own shadow in the photograph as well (Hostetle). For instance, in this photograph you can see a woman walking on the street with her hands waving. In addition, you can see Friedlander's head and neck on the telephone pole as he is capturing this black and white image. This technique lets the viewer see more of an image since there is a shadow of a man and a woman walking on the street. Since Lee Friedlander was an outstanding photographer, I will analyze and voice my opinions on his incredible work to see what I comprehend about one of his photographs.

    Since Friedlander is known to take these unique road pictures with his shadow casted in the photograph it is quit confusing to my eye. Photographs tell a story, which for me this photo doesn't seem like it does. Photographs are different to everyone because we all analyze images differently. For instance, I comprehend that this young woman is enjoying her time on the street walking with what appears to be a red light in front of her. I don't know if this signifies her being independent with herself and not relying on anyone to make her happy with life. I also interpret the shadow of Friedlander as more of a creepy side to the picture. For me, Friedlander's head and neck appearing in the image seems like he is spying on the young woman walking on the street. Furthermore, it's scary that the shadow is the person that is taking the picture of the young women. The shadow is the only piece of this image that is scary and creepy to me. The shadow reminds me of what a stalker would do; hide behind someone without them really knowing they are being watched and taking pictures of that person without them knowing. Since this was Friedlander's photograph style, he might have a different meaning than what I portrayed it as. However, photography is suppose to make people learn that everyone is going to have a different meaning when they look at an image. 

Work Cited

Hostetle, Lisa. “Lee Friedlander.” International Center of Photography, 2 Mar. 2016, www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/lee-friedlander?all/all/all/all/0.