For this personal interest assignment, I decided to choose Paul Leiter. As I was during my research to choose a particular artist, I happened to stumble across one of his images titled ‘Taxi’, shot in 1957. Upon seeing this image, I was astonished by the vibrant colors being splashed throughout. The red of the taxi’s top and the yellow of the rest of the frame creates a contrast within the image to give it a visual appeal. The reflection bouncing off the top of another car divides this image into two pieces that are highly contrasting each other. The hand inside the taxi completes this image by adding a layer of mystery because the artist hides the rest of the person by only displaying the hand. Leiter’s street photography using color really resonated with me as his images are colorful but at the same time, they have this aura of mystery. As I was wondering why he uses so much vibrancy throughout his work, I read that he had a background in painting. In his early life, he was devoted to painting, and only at a later stage, he transitioned into photography. Upon reading this, the answer I was looking for came to me, as I realized why his work is full of color. The ‘Red Umbrella’ shot in 1955, looks more like a painting than a photograph. The image has this grainy feel due to the snow and the sharp red piercing through creates this masterpiece. The main theme throughout his works is the use of color and throughout my history of photography, I tend to use color heavily. When I go out to shoot, my eyes naturally attract to the colors of the streets. The reason why I chose Leiter is because of the similarities between my work and his. I would like to find the mystery layer within my work in the future like Leiter implements within his work.
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