10 lessons william klein has taught me about street photography

7/27/2019 10 Lessons William Klein has taught me about Street Photography

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Eric Kim: 10 Lessons William Klein hastaught me about Street Photography

Source:http://www.dpreview.com/articles/0160296055/eric-kim-10-lessons-william-klein-has-taught-

me-about-street-photography

William Klein is one of my favorite street photographers of all time. I think one of the things thatI love most about him is his "I don't give a f**k" attitude about the way he approached streetphotography how he did things his own way. He rebelled against many of the contemporarystyles of photography during his time, especially that of Henri Cartier-Bresson and other 'classic'

street photographers. In this article, I will share what I have personally learned about streetphotography through his work. Also in the spirit of William Klein, I will use obscenities whenillustrating some points. After all, I think that is what Klein would like.

Gun 1, New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein
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1. Get close and personal

Klein experimented with lots of different focal lengths during his career - but he is most well-known for his up-and-close and personal work with a wide-angle lens. This is what Klein said

about his approach in his book: 'William Klein: Close Up':

'I photograph what i see in front of me, I move in close to see better and use a wide -angle lens toget as much as possible in the frame.'

New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein

When I look at the work of William Klein, I feel that I am really there. I feel like an intimateparticipant of the scene, rather than a voyeur simply looking in. Not only that, but he is able to

shove tons of content into the frame, so there are multiple subjects and point of interest--not justone single subject. When Klein would photograph with a wide-angle lens, there would beconsiderable distortion in his images (which a lot of photographers don't like).

In an interview Klein shared why he preferred using a wide-angle lens (21mm-28mm) comparedto something more standard like Henri Cartier-Bresson's 50mm:

'Does it really bother you? In any case, I'm not deliberately distorting. I need the wide -angle toget a lot of things into the frame. Take the picture of may day in Moscow. With a 50mm jammedbetween the parade and the side-walk, I would have been able to frame only the old lady in the

middle. But what I wanted was the whole group, the tartars, the Armenians, Ukranians,Russians, an image of empire surrounding one old lady on a sidewalk as a parade goes by.'


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'In photography, I was interested in letting the machine loose, in taking risks, exploring thepossibilities of f ilm, paper, printing in different ways, playing with exposures, with compositionand accidents. Its all part of what an image can be, which is anything. Good pictures, badpictures - why not?'

Takeaway point:

If you want to create a sense of intimacy in your photographs, don't photograph half a block

away with a telephoto lens. Rather, strap on a wide-angle lens (a 35mm or wider) and get up-and-close to the action. Become an active participant of the scene. Interact with the people, heartheir conversations, and as a rule of thumb be close enough to see the colors of their eyes. Also

instead of just focusing on single-subjects, try to add more content into your frame. When usinga wide-angle lens, I noticed that Klein did this best when photographing in a landscape format.This way he was able to add more subjects to his frame.

2. Keep a 'photographic diary'

Atom Bomb Sky, New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein

When Klein first started to photograph the streets of NYC in 1954, he did it with a care-freeattitude. He wasn't trained in photography at the time, but he simply captured what he foundinteresting. In 'Close Up' (1990), Klein Expands:


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Before my book on New York, I was a painter. When I came back to the city in 1954, after sixyears away, I decided to keep a photographic diary o f my return. These were practically my firstreal photographs. I had neither training nor complexes. By necessity and by choice, Idecided that anything would have to go'.

Sometimes when we shoot on the streets, we feel that we have to always work on a project ortake our photography very seriously. Although I do believe in working on projects and focusingwhen shooting on the streets, it is also important not to take things so seriously all the time.

Takeaway point:

By keeping a photographic diary you can capture interesting moments of your everyday life

through people on the streets. If you are feeling in a sad and depressive mood, you are probablymore likely to spot that in the streets. So by photographing how you feel, you can create

authentic and personal images. Another takeaway point we can learn from Klein is theimportance of the amateur approach.

Being called an 'amateur' is often a negative label. However the word 'amateur' originated fromthe idea that someone did something for the love of it, rather than for the money, fame, orprestige. So regardless of how much photographic training you have, just go out there and shoot.Don't worry so much about the theory of photography, just shoot because you love it.

3. Go against the grain

When Klein was shooting in the streets in the 50's, there were certain "taboos" when it came tophotography. This included Grain, high-contrast, blur, decomposition, and accidents. However

Klein used these techniques to his advantage. His photographs weren't clean, sterile, and clinical.Rather, they were full of energy, vibrance, and a sense of rebellion that went against the grain.


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Dance in Brooklyn, New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein

Of course now looking back we look at Klein as a visionary and a genius in his work and

approach. However when he was photographing at the time, people either hated his work ordidn't understand how unique or original it was. When talking about his pivotal New York Book,

'Life is Good & Good For You in New York' (1956), Klein had this to say in 1990:

'The resulting book went against the grain thirty years ago. My approach was not fashionablethen nor is it it today.'

In a 1981 interview with Klein (in his Aperture Monograph book), he shares how muchAmerican publishers abhorred his work:

'In the 1950s I couldn't find an American publisher for my New York pictures [...] Everyone Ishowed them to said, 'Ech! This isn't New York, too ugly , too seedy and too one-sided. They said'This isn't photography, this is sh*t!'

Takeaway point:

I think what we can learn from Klein is the fact that he gave the middle-finger to everyone elsewhen it came to his photography. He did things his way, and certainly went against the grain. He

knew that his photography wasn't fashionable, but he didn't give a flying sh*t. Even when hetalked about his work in his book: 'William Klein: Close Up' in 1990, he still mentioned how hiswork still wasn't fashionable.


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4. Pursue ethnography

Wikipedia defines ethnography as follows:

Ethnography (from Greek ethnos = folk/people and grapho = to write) is a qualitative researchdesign aimed at exploring cultural phenomena. The resulting field study or a case report reflectsthe knowledge and the system of meanings in the lives of a cultural group. An ethnography is ameans to represent graphically and in writing, the culture of a people.

Danseurs dans la rue des petits bureaux, Tokyo, 1961 - photo: William Klein

Why do I bring up ethnography in terms of Klein's street photography? Well, he mentioned it

himself when describing the content he pursued for his 'Life is Good & Good For You in NewYork' book:

'As for content: pseudo-ethnography, parody, dada. I was a make-believe ethnograph in searchof the straightest of straight documents, the rawest snapshot, the zero degree of photography. Iwould document the proud New Yorkers in the same way a museum expedition would documentKikuyus'.

Although Klein refers to his work as more of a 'pseudo-ethnography' (or wanna-be ethnography)

his work certainly explores the culture of people in New York. What did Klein find in the peopleof New York in the 50's? Well in his own words he found 'black humor, absurd, panic.'


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His pictures certainly aren't romantic photographs like those of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Rather,his New York photographs are quite grimy, rugged, and raw. They show a side of New York that

many Americans found repugnant. He photographed in the rough parts of town and documentedthe manipulation of the media, as well as the grittiness of the streets.

Takeaway point:

When you are pursuing your own photography, don't try to just make interesting images. Rather,

try to pursue the 'sense of place' of wherever you are photographing. Through ethnography, try topursue to 'represent graphically and in writing, the culture of a people.'

5. Be purposeful when you are out shooting

Rome, 1956 - photo: William Klein

When Klein first started photographing the streets of New York in the 50's, he did so with a

'photographic diary' approach. At the time, he didn't think of creating a book on New York oranything of the sort. However one thing that I found fascinating is how he mentions that he

doesn't believe in the idea of 'carrying a camera everywhere you go.' Rather, he mentions how hephotographs with high-intensity when working on a project or a book:


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'I don't roam around with a camera and never did. I took pictures in spurts, for my books, forsome assignments or on special occasions. Like people who take out their cameras for Christmasand birthdays. Each time, like them, probably, I feel it's the first time and as if I would have torelearn the moves. Luckily, it comes pretty fast, like riding a bike.'- William Klein (1990)

Interesting enough, Klein didn't actually spend a lot of time of his life shooting on the streets.However because he focused intensely, he was able to finish his books and projects quickly andefficiently. John Heilpern wrote this about William Klein in an Aperture Monograph of him(1981):

'Just as Klein himself lives in self-inflicted limbo in paris, he appears to have made of his careerwhat amounted to a willfull noncareer. Everything he worked at over the years, from hispaintings to his later political films, he abandoned eventually to start afresh.'

'His four books of photography, on which so much of his reputation is based, took him anaverage of 3 months each to photograph and several more months to edit and design. (Klein did

the design, typography, covers, and texts for all his books.) But little more than four years of hislife have actually been spent seriously taking photographs.'

Takeaway point

I still think it is a good practice to carry a camera with you everywhere you go, as many 'decisive

moments' tend to happen at the most random of times. I always carry a compact camera with me,and have found some of my best photographs in the least likely places (supermarket, waiting inline at airport, while running errands). However I still think there is great value in Klein'smethodology in working in short and focused bursts.

It still blows me away how Klein was able to photograph most of his photography books of NewYork, Rome, Paris, and Moscow on an average of only 3 months. Most photographers take yearsor even decades to finish photographing for their books. I suspect it is because when Klein wasshooting on the streets, he didn't dick around. He hit the streets with passion and fervor, and shotin the streets without hesitation.

Through his purposeful shooting on the streets he was able to create powerful and memorablephotographs. So even if you don't have a lot of free time to shoot on the streets, don't fret. If wecan learn anything from Klein, it is that it is quality, not the quantity of time we use whenshooting in the streets that matters.

6. Have funThe reason I like to shoot street photography is because it is fun. When I am out on the streets, I

feel like a kid again. Street photography gives me the opportunity to explore, interact withpeople, and lose myself in the moment while photographing. What was the main impetus whichdrove Klein to first start taking photographs? Klein mentions the sense of fun and enjoyment thathe got shooting on the streets:


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'I was tak ing pictures for myself. I felt free. Photography was a lot of fun for me. First of all I'dget really excited waiting to see if the pictures would come out the next day. I didn't really knowanything about photography, but I loved the camera'.

Boy and Girl, New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein

Klein also shares the excitement that he got when experimenting shooting on the streets:

'a photographer can love his camera and what it can do in the same way that a painter can love

his brush and paints, love the feel of it and the excitement.'

'I would look at my contact sheets and my heart would be beating, you know. To see if I'd caught

what I wanted. Sometimes, I'd take shots without aiming, just to see what happened. I'd rush intocrowds 'bang! Bang!' I liked the idea of luck and taking a chance, other times I'd frame acomposition I saw and plant myself somewhere, longing for some accident to happen.'

'Choosing location, maybe a symbolic spot, the light and perspective, and suddenly you know the


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moment is yours. It must be close to what a f ighter feels af ter jabbing and circling and gettinghit, when suddenly there's an opening, and bang! Right on the button. It's a fantastic feeling.'

Takeaway point:

Don't forget to have fun when shooting on the streets. If there is ever a point in when shooting inthe streets is no longer fun for you, you should probably stop and pursue some other type of

approach. For example, for about 5-6 years I enjoyed shooting street photography in black andwhite. However after a while, it didn't interest me as much and didn't feel as challenging.However now that I have switched to shooting my street photography exclusively in color film, ithas opened up new opportunities and challenges which I find fun.

Let your own interests lead your street photography. Don't really care what types of projectsother photographers may be pursuing. After all, what is interesting (and fun) to them may not beinteresting or fun to you.

7. Interact with your subjectsStreet photography is generally understood as capturing candid moments of everyday life.

However the paradox is that some of the most memorable street photographs taken in historywere either posed or as a result of the interaction with the photographer. Think of Klein's famous'kid with gun' photograph. Although the moment looks raw and candid, the photograph wasactually a result of what Klein said to the kid. When Klein saw the kid with the gun, he told him:

'Look tough.' The kid then turned toward Klein, and pointed his gun straight at him - giving anincredibly brutal look.

If you look at Klein's contact sheet of the shot, you can see the next photograph the kid is smilingand posing with one of his friends. So how did Klein interact with his subjects when shooting onthe streets? He explains how his subjects were aware they were being photographed, but notalways 100% sure:

'Yes, but they didn't know I might be photographing a hundred other things going on behindthem - someone lurk ing in the background, a shadow, a reflection, posters, traffic, junk. [I'dsay], 'Hold it! Don't move! Hey, look this way! People would say, 'Whats this for? I'd say, 'TheNews.' 'The News! Wow! No sh*t!' I didn't much care.'


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Contact sheet, showing 'Gun 1' next to its subsequent frame, where the

tough look has been replaced by a childish grin.

photo: William Klein

So doesn't this mean that Klein was simply manipulating his subjects? This is an interview

question that was given to him, in which Klein responds:

'Not always. We're not completely brut, you know. I thought people could be provoked to pose orplay a role in some situations. Why not? People have posed for portraits for centuries. When I

was a k id in New York , if some tough kid caught you looking at him he'd say, 'Hey! What are youlooking at?' If you said, 'I'm looking at you, he'd say, 'Oh, yeah!' if you said, 'I'm not look ing atyou', He'd say, 'why not?' - either way you were in trouble.'

Klein also shares his thoughts on how pointing a camera at someone you don't know can cause atension, but how it is also generally accepted:

'In rough neighborhoods in New York [sometimes] it's better not to look. So if you point acamera at a stranger, you're almost breaking a tradition of not getting involved. Yet in a way, thecamera erases involvement. Its accepted.'

Klein knows how photographing someone can cause someone to be provoked, but in the end,most people quite liked being photographed:

'In another way, it could be worse, a provocation and a threat. But generally, the people Iphotographed in New York seemed flattered. If I manipulated them sometimes, they didn't seem

to think they should mind. Elsewhere, if I'd get people to clown around with me, like people inItaly to pose in hierarchical Roman way, I think that should be a valid picture. They're telling us

something about themselves'.


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Gun 2, New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein

But if a photographer provokes a person, what does it show except the result of the provocation?

Klein thinks that people's reactions show less of the photographer, but more of the subjecthim/herself:

'Rather than catching people unaware, they show the face they want to show. Unposed, caughtunaware, they might reveal ambiguous expressions, brows creased in vague internalcontemplation, illegible, perhaps meaningless. Why not allow the subject the possibility ofrevealing his attitude toward life, his neighbor, even the photographer? Both ways are valid tome.'

Klein shares how sometimes people he provoked did things he couldn't have even imagined:

'In any case, very often people did things I couldn't have organized or imagined. A mother pointsa toy gun at her child's temple. Maybe I asked her to do it, I honestly forget. But lets say I did,

out of some perverse inspiration. At the same time, though, she holds the child's hand in the mosttender, touching way. The way a subject reacts to the camera can create a k ind of happening.Why pretend the camera isn't there? Why not use it? Maybe people will reveal themselves asviolent or tender, crazed or beautiful. But in some way, they reveal who they are. They'll havetaken a self-portrait'.


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Takeaway point

I know a lot of street photographers who are vehemently opposed to the idea of interacting withyour subjects. However I don't think it is a problem to interact with your subjects when shooting

on the streets. I often interact with my subjects when I'm shooting street photography. I might

sometimes first chat with them, get to know more about them, and ask to take a few photos ofthem. In other cases, I will ask them to pose for me a certain way I'd like to (asking someone totake a puff out of their cigarette, look straight into the lens, or not to smile).

Other times I have taken Klein's line of saying: 'look tough' to some people I meet on the street.The type of expression or look they give me is generally much more interesting than anything

that I could have orchestrated myself. Don't feel that all the photographs you take have to be100% candid. I often feel that the photographs in which people interact with their subjects aremore interesting than candid moments. I think Klein would agree with this sentiment whole-heartedly.

8. Don't worry about cameras

Red Light and Vespa, Rome, 1956 - photo: William Klein

As photographers we can be a bunch of nerds. We spend a lot of time on gear forums and obsess

over the sharpness, bokeh, or 'characteristics' of certain lenses. We spend a lot of time talking


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about the "ideal camera" for street photography. The problem is that after all this equipmentmasturbation, it can take us away from actually going out and taking photographs. What didKlein feel about talking about gear and equipment? He wasn't very interested in it he was moreinterested in shooting:

'The right filter, the right film, the right exposure - none of that interested me very much. I hadonly one camera to start with. Secondhand two lenses no f ilter, none of that. What interested mewas getting something on f ilm to put into an enlarger, maybe to get another picture. And I was ina big hurry. Once I got used to everything in New York I knew the trance would wear off. So Itook pictures with a vengeance'.

Takeaway point:

I used to be totally obsessed with gear. When I was an undergraduate student at UCLA, I worked

in IT as my work-study job and spent far too much time on gear forums. I would be like thethousands of other members discussing inane matters like the corner-sharpness of Canon-zoom L

lenses vs Canon prime lenses. I spent too much time studying 'bokeh characteristics' of differentlenses. I spent too much time looking at 100% crops of high-ISO samples of different cameras.

What was the result of all that? Well first of all, it made me depressed as hell because I couldnever afford all of those expensive cameras and lenses (especially as a student). In-fact, it

discouraged me from going out and actually taking photographs, as I felt that my gear wasinadequate in creating good images. However over the years, I have found how little gear has todo with creating memorable images.

To think that Henri Cartier-Bresson made some of his masterpiece images in the early 1920'swith a primitive Leica and ISO 25 film! But yet nowadays we bitch and moan about our cameras

not being able to go above ISO 1600. At the end of the day, we should follow Klein's advice anddon't worry so much about the camera or technical settings. The most important thing is goingout and producing images.

9. Don't worry about technical settings

Many photographers I know tend to obsess over the technical settings. They need to have the

'ideal' lens for a certain situation, to use the 'ideal' f-stop, to use an 'ideal' shutter speed, and the'ideal composition.' Klein gave the middle finger to all of that. He was the master ofexperimentation and trying everything unconventional -especially when it came to the technicaldetails. In his own words:

'I have always loved the amateur side of photography, automatic photographs, accidentalphotographs with uncentered compositions, heads cut off, whatever.'

Klein would also experiment with playing with grain, contrast, blur, and manipulat ing negatives.This is what he had to say about his New York book:


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'The New York book was a visual diary and it was also kind of personal newspaper. I wanted itto look like the news. I didn't relate to European photography. It was too poetic and anecdotalfor me the kinetic quality of new york, the kids, dirt, madness. I tried to find a photographic

style that would come close to it. So I would be grainy and contrasted and black. Id crop, blur,play with the negatives. I didn't see clean technique being right for New York. I could imagine

my pictures lying in the gutter like the New York Daily News.'

Candy Store, New York, 1955 - photo: William Klein

In one of his most famous images of a kid in front of a checkerboard tile wall, he jiggled theenlarge head slightly up and down to give the impression that the photograph was rushing at the

viewer. Certainly a technique that wasn't conventional at the time. Klein would often shoot withslow shutter speeds to create motion and blur in his photographs. This was also against the grainat the time, in which sharp and in-focus photographs were the standard. When asked about whyhe used blur in his photographs, Klein responded:

'If you look carefully at life, you see blur. shake your hand. Blur is a part of life.'

Klein wasn't a technical photographer when he started, and he never tried to. He actually wouldtry to purposefully make 'mistakes' in his photographs from a technical standpoint:


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'I have always done the opposite of what I was trained to do. Having little technical background,I become a photographer. Adopting a machine, I do my utmost to make it malfunction. For me,to make a photograph was to make an anti-photograph.'

Takeaway point:

Don't feel that your photographs have to be technically perfect. Experiment with different

approaches in terms of both how you photograph, who you photograph, and how you post-process your images. Personally I don't like photographs that are 'over-processed' like HDRphotographs. However what Klein was doing with his photographs (extreme contrast, grain, andnegative-manipulation) in the past is probably the modern-day equivalent approach of HDR.

So once again, screw the rules and create your own new ones. That is how Klein made a namefor himself perhaps that is how you can make a name for yourself too.

10. Be opinionatedWe as street photographers aren't documentary or reportage photographers. We are not trying tocreate images that attempt to show an 'objective' view of reality. Rather, the images we create are

generally for ourselves--portraying our own view of reality. I think what makes a photographers 'work interesting is how he/she sees the world. I think that photographers should have an opinionabout the society around him/herself and show it through his/her photographs. I think thatstriving to search for 'objectivity' will simply make one's work boring and not very interesting.

Klein's street photography was very subjective. He traveled to places all around the world andphotographed things how he saw them.

He shares how he approached street photography in New York:

'In New York I took responsibility for the people I photographed. I felt I knew them - the people,

the way they relate to each other, the streets, the buildings, the city. And I tried to make sense ofit all. I just photographed what I saw though its true I used the camera as a weapon in NewYork.'

When Klein visited Tokyo, he approached street photography there much differently:

'In Tokyo [the camera] was more of a mask, a disguise. I had only the vaguest clue to what was

going on. I wasn't there to judge anything. I was an outsider and felt pretty uncomfortable

sometimes. Have you ever eaten an official Japanese dinner for four hours on your knees? It wasdifferent in New York.'


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Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris, 1990 - photo: William Klein

Klein also explains how he believed in getting personally involved in his photography:

'In a way its true I had a lot of old scores to settle. I was involved. According to the HenriCartier-Bresson scriptures, you're not to intrude or editorialize, but I don't see how that'spossible or why it should be. I loved and hated New York. Why shut up about it?'

With Cartier-Bresson being almost like a demigod in the photography world, he set most of thestandards for photographers. But Klein stayed true to himself and rebelled. This is what he had tosay about HCB:

'I liked Cartier-Bresson's pictures, but I didn't like his set of rules. So I reversed them. I thoughthis view that photography must be objective was nonsense. Because the photographer whopretends he's wiping all the slates clean in the name of objectivity doesn't exist.'


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Cine Poster, Tokyo, 1961 - photo: William Klein

Klein also makes the great point on how photographers are subjective when photographing a

scene:

'How can photography be noncommittal? Cartier-Bresson chooses the photograph this subjectinstead of that, he blows up another shot of the subject, and he chooses another one for

publication. He's mak ing a statement. He's mak ing decisions and choices every second. Ithought, if you're doing that, make it show.'

Klein talks more about how photographers are prejudiced, and how the camera adds to thatprejudice:

'I'd say that such a person wouldn't let the camera express itself. He's prejudiced. A camera can

record the passage of time, if only for a f raction of a second. Why say it shouldn't? Besides, ifyou look carefully at life, you see blur. Shake your hand blur is a part of life. But why must aphotograph be a mirror?'

'Most things I did with photography are considered acceptable today, except maybe this use of awide-angle. It seemed more normal to me than the 50mm lens. You could even say the 50mm is

an imposition of a limited point of view. But neither lens is really normal or correct. Because inlife we see out of two eyes, whereas the camera has only one. So whatever lens is used, a llphotographs are deformations of what you actually see with your eyes'.

Takeaway point:

Klein was very outspoken and opinionated when it came to his personality and especially his

street photography. He believed that photographers should show their opinions of the world.Klein believed photographs should be subjective, and couldn't be objective (even if the

photographer tried). After all, the photographer makes the conscious choice of what tophotograph and what not to photograph, whether to capture a scene in black and white or color,or use a telephoto or wide-angle lens.


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All of these show subjective views of reality. I believe in what Klein says as well. As streetphotographers, we aren't covering a news in a war. Our photographs aren't nearly as political asthat of photojournalists or reportage photographers. Therefore we should embrace the fact that

one of the beauties that lie in street photography is that it is generally for ourself, not for others.We don't need to show an 'objective' view of reality. We need to editorialize life and make it

more subjective, personal, and intimate.

Conclusion

Klein was one of the most rebellious street photographers in the course of history. He went

against all of the traditions of photography - such as composition, using wide-angle lenses,blurring his photographs, getting up-close-and-personal, interacting with his subjects, creatinggrainy and high-contrasty images, and far more. I still feel that Klein is one of the mostunderrated street photographers, as he is not as well-known as some of the more prominent street

photographers in history (many photographers who know Henri Cartier-Bresson have no whoidea who Klein is).

There is still a lot I have to learn about Klein, but the things I mentioned above is what I havepersonally learned from him. Give the middle-finger to convention and f**k what other peoplethink. Go out, have fun, and pursue the type of street photography you enjoy. If people tell youwhat you are doing isn't 'street photography' just ignore them and do what you love the most,photograph.

10 lessons william klein has taught me about street photography

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