{"id":34494,"date":"2019-11-14T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/?p=34494"},"modified":"2019-11-14T08:33:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T15:33:31","slug":"wegee-and-the-public-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/2019\/11\/14\/wegee-and-the-public-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Wegee and The Public Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Pesci at his best.<\/i><\/p>\n

Arthur Fellig, who went by the name Weegee<\/a>, was a 1930 and 1940s New York street snapper who made his name with gruesome monochrome images of street murders, as often as not involving the mob. He installed a police band radio in his car, allowing him to listen in on the dispatcher and arrive first at the scene, scoring hundreds of scoops.<\/p>\n

He was arguably the first freelance photographer, one to whom any latter day self respecting paparazzo<\/i> owes his living. A larger than life – if small in stature – man like that would be a natural for a biopic, you would think, and indeed such a movie was made. It is called The Public Eye<\/a> and stars one of the finest actors of his generation, Joe Pesci. Sadly, a confused plot along with poor editing and marketing made the movie a flop, but there’s lots for any photographer – and any Pesci fan – to enjoy.<\/p>\n


\n
\n\"\"
\nAt one of many scoops.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe 4 x 5 Speed Graphic he used was huge.
\n5 seconds between shots – flip the dark slide and film holder and pop in a new bulb.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe oversize hat emphasizes Pesci’s diminutive stature.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nJust look at this attention to detail – Remington typewriter,
\nspare flash bulbs, Speed Graphic, you name it. Ford Deuce Coupe.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nIntegrity was not Weegee’s guiding force.
\nHere he sets up a shot of a dead bum in an alleyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nNoo Yawk at night – a magic moment.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nA much underused actor with great range.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nMore of the same.<\/p>\n

<\/i>
\n<\/center><\/p>\n

Recommended to all photographers and movie lovers who are willing to overlook the movie’s shortcomings.<\/p>\n

As for Weegee, he was quite probably the worst photographer to ever take a breath, but then it was shock not art that was his stock in trade. He did once take a really great photograph, and it is this he is remembered by:<\/p>\n


\n
\n\"\"
\nWeegee’s ‘The Critic’, 1943.
\n<\/i>
\n<\/center><\/p>\n

And like Doisneau’s ‘The Kiss’<\/a>, it was carefully posed. And, like with his mainstream work, the picture shows nothing but corpses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Pesci at his best. Arthur Fellig, who went by the name Weegee, was a 1930 and 1940s New York street snapper who made his name with gruesome monochrome images of street murders, as often as not involving the mob. He installed a police band radio in his car, allowing him to listen in on … Continue reading Wegee and The Public Eye<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies-photographers","category-photographers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34494"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34510,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34494\/revisions\/34510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}