All Books Masters of Photography Quotes

Joel Meyerowitz | Taking My Time

Joel Meyerowitz has had a retrospective published in 2012 by Phaidon in conjunction with a traveling exhibit of his work.

For more on his book, click here.

From Le Journal de la Photographie:

His 1962 encounter with Robert Frank encouraged him to walk through the streets of New York with a 35 mm camera and a color film. His first book “Cape Light“ is considered a classic of color photography and features some of his most famous pictures, in which he explores the variations of colors when in contact with light.

He shoots with both a 35 mm camera and a large format Deardorff 20×25. Few photographers are capable of working in these formats, the two being quite different languages. One is able to capture the decisive instant with a 35 mm camera; while the large format camera reveals the beauty of reality thanks to the long exposure.

New York City © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City © Joel Meyerowitz

Paris, 1976 © Joel Meyerowitz

Paris, 1976 © Joel Meyerowitz

Paris, 1976 © Joel Meyerowitz

Paris, 1976 © Joel Meyerowitz

 

 

A young man lies on the sidewalk with his arms outstretched. A workman with a hammer casually steps over his fallen body. A crowd stands at the entrance to the métro, stunned by curiosity into inaction. A cyclist and a pedestrian each turn over their shoulders to catch a last glimpse, while around them the traffic glides by. Which is the greater drama of life in the city: the fictitious clash between two figures that is implied, or the indifference of the one to the other that is actual? A photograph allows such contradictions to exist in everyday life; more than that, it encourages them. Photography is about being exquisitely present.

-Joel Meyerowitz

Roseville Cottages, Truro, Massachusetts, 1976 © Joel Meyerowitz

Roseville Cottages, Truro, Massachusetts, 1976 © Joel Meyerowitz

Smoke in rising sunlight, New York City, 2001 © Joel Meyerowitz

Smoke in rising sunlight, New York City, 2001 © Joel Meyerowitz

Young Girl, Cape Cod, 1979 © Joel Meyerowitz

Young Girl, Cape Cod, 1979 © Joel Meyerowitz

5th Avenue,1975 © Joel Meyerowitz

5th Avenue,1975 © Joel Meyerowitz

Florida, 1968 © Joel Meyerowitz

Florida, 1968 © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 © Joel Meyerowitz

Bulgaria, 1967 © Joel Meyerowitz

Bulgaria, 1967 © Joel Meyerowitz

Butte, Montana, 1964 © Joel Meyerowitz

Butte, Montana, 1964 © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 © Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 © Joel Meyerowitz

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