I had the privilege of seeing Lee Friedlander tonight at ICP in NYC. He's coming out with a new book, "Real Estate", his 65th book over the course of his 60 year career. Included in a panel discussion were four instrumental people: his archivist, book designer, collaborator who helps him select and sequence photos, and his printer. They've all been with him for the last 25-50 years. Lee is known for being shy in front of audiences, so he sat in the front row with his wife and occasionally made remarks from there during the discussion. This was a perfect evening to learn about the art of publishing a photography book and of course seeing one of the greatest photographers of our time.
Steve
Lee Friedlander
Nice one Steve. Did you get to personally say hello to him? I do like his work a lot. Great use of geometry and mirrors in many shots and splitting his frames into sections by use of car doors and having people in each section. There's one photo that comes to mind which is really good. It's two people standing next to each other in front of two large windows looking at something, one looking through binoculars and the other looking through a camera. You then notice that the glass windows reflect mount rushmore in the distance which shows what they're looking at.
Hey Lee, at the end of the event he was surrounded by admirers so I didn’t wait around for an opportunity to congratulate him. I’ve been a big fan of his work for a long time, starting with his book “Self Portrait” published in 1970. His work is often playful and filled with humor and irony. I’m not familiar with the photo you mentioned.
During the discussion it was stated that his picture taking has been entirely analog. Lee has a huge archive as expected over a lifetime. For “Real Estate”, he and his archivist selected around 1000-1200 photos to begin with and whittled down from there to make the book.
Lee’s a jazz aficionado and it was mentioned there’s an important element that music plays in his mind when he’s sequencing and trying to “hit the right notes.” He’s also an avid reader and likes to insert text and quotes within his books.
I highly recommend his last book, “Framed”, that Lee did collaborating with the filmmaker Joel Coen who helped select and sequence Lee’s photos. As you mentioned Merlin, there’s a lot going on in every frame in this book.
Steve
