Summer on the Lower East Side (Weegee, 1937)
By: Ainara, Antia & Sofia G.
Table of contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….1 2. Analysis of the photograph……………………………………………..1-2 a. Observation skills i. Action & theme ii. Characters iii. The story behind the photo b. Technical Knowledge i. Photographer’s point of view & lightning ii. Framing & Cropping 3. The real story behind this photo…………………………………………...2 4. Weegee’s biography (Arthur H. Fellig).........................................................3 5. Conclusión…………………………………………………………………..3 6. Bibliography………………………………………………………………...4
1. Introduction In this project we are going to talk about a photo, how to read it, what we think it could mean and what the photographer wants to express. We are going to learn how to read photos because it is not always what it seems. We chose this photo because we think that it could be interesting to analyze it and know the story behind it. We also think that it is a beautiful photography.
2. Analysis of the photograph a)Observation skills i.
Action and theme
In this photo we see some children playing in the street with water that is coming out of a fire hydrant. They are playing in the middle of the road while other people are walking on the sidewalk and others are watching. At the end of the street we see some markets, big signs and a barber pole on the ground. We think that they are playing in the middle of the street because a war has ended or because there is a party in the city and they are celebrating this event with their most elegant clothes. Before taking the picture we think that all the children were in their houses getting dressed to go out. After the photo was taken all the families goes to their homes to change their children and some families went out to eat out or to have diner and others stayed at home.
ii.
Characters
The subjects of the photo are the children that are playing, behind them there are other people and some houses and in the foreground the photographer is. We think that the photo was taken in America in the last century in a rich neighborhood because of the clothes, the haircut of the children who is not wet because the cut is elegant, the barber pole and the houses that look like the houses of the old American films. The children are between four and twelve years old, we think this because of their height. The children’s face express happiness and a little of suffering because it seems that the water was cold because of their expressions.
iii.
The story behind the photo
We think that the story behind it is that the children are in America in the last century because there was a war and they had a bad time, because there was a war and they had a bad time, because their fathers were soldiers and they had to go with the U.S Army to fight. When the fathers came back home alive all the families to the neighborhood were happy and they decided to do a party in honor of all the soldiers who survived.
b) Technical Knowledge i.
Photographer’s point of view and lightning
The technique that the photographer used is the black and white, so that it make it more highlighted and draws your attention to the water and the children’s body that is not covered because that light makes them stand out more than the rest of the photo. We think that the light is natural because the photographer took the photo in the outside and standing because he/she is in the same angle with the children. When the photographer takes this picture he wants to reflect the happiness that the children have although they are only playing with water.
ii.
Framing & Cropping
The photographer includes in the photo the children that were playing, the people that were watching and he cuts the boy that was making the water flow in more directions because the photographer wants the children to get our attention. The photo makes us feel happiness, freshness and summer feeling. We don’t see any symbol or metaphor. We think that the photo was used for an art exhibition.
3. The real story behind this photo The photo was taken in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This photograph represents a much happier and the splendor of New York City. In those days the Lower East Side was a neighbourhood where only immigrants lived. In his autobiography Weegee wrote: "The people loved their children, and no matter how poor they might be, they managed to dig up the money for my pictures." In that part of the town the apartments were small and the families were bigger, so the street became a playground and a living room. Playing with the fire hydrants was a popular method to keep cool in the hot summer days in New York. In those neighbourhoods where gangsters lived too it was also a bit dangerous to play outside.
4. Weegee’s biography Weegee is the pseudonym of Arthur H. Fellig, a photographer and a Ukrainian graphic reporter. He was born on June 12, 1899. His parents named him Usher, but he was renamed Arthur when he emigrated to New York with his family. He is specialized in documenting the New York street stray scene. The photos show scenes of crime, bloodstained victims of traffic accidents, or crowded urban beaches. But also photographed ladies of the New York high society dressed with their ermines and crowns. The alias Weegee is a phonetic interpretation of the word “Ouija”. They call him like that because of his frequent arrivals on the crime scene only minutes after someone called for the authorities, due to a fire or other emergency. We don’t know with certainty who put that nickname to him, some people think that was himself, others think that the girls of Acme Newspictures did (the agency that probed images to the two more important newspapers of New York, the Daily News and the Herald Tribune). He was the only graphic reporter in New York who had a voc permission to carry on a short wave portable radio with the frequency of the police.
5. Conclusion When we know more about the photographer we think that he was a little bit sinister, because of the meaning of his nickname and the type of photos that he takes. The real story coincides little with our story. The real story surprised us because we thought that the people were american considering that they didn’t look like immigrants.
6. Bibliography ● Court - Kindred Subjects: Art Stories from New York City <http://kindredsubjects.blogspot.com.es/2011/06/summer-on-lower-east-side-1937-w eegee.html> [8th June, 2011]
● Kanye West - In Focus: Play, on view <https://www.artsy.net/artwork/weegee-summer-the-lower-east-side-new-york-city> [2/06/2017] ● Weegee - Summer the Lower East Side <https://www.edu.xunta.gal/centros/iesfene/aulavirtual2/pluginfile.php/10142/ mod_resource/content/3/Visual%20Literacy%20-%20Practice%20%28No%20 Information%29.pdf> [1937] ● Wikipedia - Weegee <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee> [6/02/2017]