American photographer Weegee was born Usher Fellig (1899 - 1968), and became Arthur Fellig when his family immigrated from an area of Eastern Europe, now Ukraine, to New York in 1910, fleeing persecution for being Jewish.
Cigars and Salami
Weegee is a phonetic spelling of Ouija, a nickname given to him due to his uncanny ability to quickly arrive at the scene of fires, crimes, or other calamities. Weegee must have been well respected by officials since he was the only reporter/photographer in 1938 to have a portable police-band radio in his car. He also maintained a full dark room in the car trunk. Since he worked primarily at night he was able to develop his prints, type articles, and deliver quickly to the newspapers. He also kept salami, a change of clothes, and plenty of cigars on hand.
But Weegee did not attain his success and respect overnight. He started in photography by dropping out of school to help support his family by working as a tintype photographer. Eventually he began assisting a commercial photographer in a kind of photography bootcamp. After several months of this he quit to become a street photographer with a pony cart. Weegee had to give this up because it cost more to care for the pony than he was earning. At age eighteen he moved out of his parents house to live on his own. He slept in shelters, missions, and finally on the street. He sought shelter in parks and the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, and went through a series of service and labor jobs.
Weegee kept looking for a job in photography. In 1918 he finally snagged a job at a professional photography studio in Manhattan where he worked for three years honing his skills. In 1921 he went to work for the photography department of the New York Times, then later worked for Acme Newspapers until 1935.
Freelance Weegee
It was about this time that Weegee began his freelance career. He had paid his dues by working in dark rooms as assistant and apprentice, he had undoubtedly made many contacts in the world of commercial and news photography. Weegee claims he knew every sign post, every street corner, every cop, and every transient in New York City. How? Probably because he was a bit transient himself. He lived out of his car cruising the streets of New York City all night or hanging at his headquarters at the Police Department. It helped that he rented a one room apartment across the street to always be close to the action. Weegee started selling his photos to many newspapers nationally and internationally. This also begins the period of Weegee’s most prolific time period in New York between 1935 and 1947.
Weegee is best known for a kind of tabloid photography that can be as sensational as Jerry Springer or as charming as Norman Rockwell. His photographs are incredibly voyeuristic and seem to catch people in candid and intimate moments of both joy and distress. He is able to capture intimate moments as inobtrusively as possible by using infrared flashbulbs. Although this would create a kind of flash, the reddish light must be significantly less than a white light flash.
Weegee's Legacy
Can you imagine Weegee sneaking into this theater and negotiating this shot with a regular flash? (“Don’t look at me, just keep doing what you’re doing.”) It is as if we are witnessing a most private moment in the flash of Weegee’s light. The other audience members seem oblivious. The flash illuminates a tender moment in the middle of a dark public room. You are the voyeur watching the oblivious couple glowing in their own affection.
I think Weegee was a social documentarian to whom we owe a great thanks for chronicling New York City at night for a couple of decades. His early fire photos are not as sensational and definitely worth a look. While Weegee is indeed interested in snapping photos that will sell, he is also clearly in love with the city, the night, and a true and vast representation of what he saw. Weegee photographed all aspects of New York; it's crime, criminals, transsexuals, homeless, socialites, firemen & fires, policemen, children, and crowd scenes.
No matter how you want to classify Weegee, as journalist, photographer, ambulance-chaser, or shameless self-promoter, perhaps his greatest legacy is his persistence and productivity. It is estimated that he took over 20,000 photographs, many developed from the trunk of his car. While he may have portrayed himself as a self-taught eccentric photographer, he was indeed a master at capturing humanity in all of its beauty and tragedy. It is also clear that Weegee learned a lot in his early days of working for other photographers.
Influenced by Weegee
Historians might judge a great artist by their influence. Weegee is cited as an influence by many other photographers including Joel Peter Witkin and Lena Herzog and I’d be willing to bet that Robert Mapplethorpe and Diane Arbus knew Weegee’s work. Weegee’s book Naked City, which is a loving chronicle of some of his best work and for which he is perhaps best known, was made into a movie and subsequent TV show. Weegee was also an uncredited consultant for the movie Dr. Strangelove.
Sources:
- If you are interested in reading more about Weegee there a couple of great places to look. www.weegee.org is a great place to start. It seems to be a bit unorganized in that they are not 100% sure which photos are Weegee’s and which are by others. But if you want to see a significant collection of Weegee’s early (mostly fire) photos, this is a good place to spend several hours.
- There are also interviews with Weegee here.
- You could also read his book: The Naked City, but remember it is Weegee as how many historians have chosen to remember him, somewhat sensational and over the top. Naked City, Weegee. Essential Books, 1945.
Mary Rayme - Mary Rayme is a graphic designer and arts educator with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
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