the moon is falling, my wounds are calling, my head is bleeding, and i'm a duck

Lee Friedlander




I've decided to post photos from some of my favorite photographers over the next few days, and I thought I'd start with Lee Friedlander. I'm not really much for rankings, but right now my "favorite" photographer would be a toss up between Friedlander and William Eggleston. I appreciate both for different, though perhaps similar, reasons. Friedlander gained notoriety in the 60's for his "social landscape" photography, which as far as I can tell is something like New Journalism applied to photography. In other words, it's a more overtly subjective approach to documentary photography, just as New Journalism used subjective, unconventional literary techniques for what had been ostensibly "objective" news writing. In part, I find Friedlander's photography interesting because it investigates/engages notions of subjectivity while also engaging with the world out there. I also appreciate Friedlander's use of line/perspective, his ability of pull multiple levels into the photo, and his humor and eye for the unexpected.