Seeing Beauty In A Cold And Wet New York City With Moody Photos Of Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter (1923-2013) found warmth in the rain and snow falling on New York City.

Leiter was 23 when he left his native Pittsburgh for New York. The Rabbi’s son schooled in Jewish law and history found his metier in photography. His work was spotted by Edward Steichen, who included 23 of Leiter’s photographs in Always the Young Stranger at the Museum of Modern Art in 1953 and 20 of Leiter’s colour images in the 1957 MoMA conference Experimental Photography in Color. And as far as fame goes that was largely it until many years later.

More: Saul Leiter Foundation h/t: flashbak

“I spent a great deal of my life being ignored,” he told the New Yorker’s Vince Aletti. “I was always very happy that way. Being ignored is a great privilege. That is how I think I learned to see what others do not see and to react to situations differently. I simply looked at the world, not really prepared for anything.” But fame did arrive.