Saul Leiter started focusing his artworks on color and black-and-white street photography in New York in the 1940s. His works blend street photography with painterly influences, appearing to be abstract and impactful. Unlike typical street photographers who focus on sharp realism, Leiter’s photos often emphasized colors, reflections, and layering.

From his work, I learned that street photography can move beyond our simple expectations to convey mood and emotion through colors and compositions. His unique approach challenges the norm, showing that street photography isn’t just about capturing a moment but also about the artistic interpretation and impression.

Saul Leiter’s Style of Work 

• Mostly street photography, with soft focus, reflections, and abstract color compositions.
• His artworks contrast with those of artists like Robert Frank, who favored black-and-white themes with decisive moments.
• He explored how color can be a sense of storytelling and an emotive tool in street scenes.
• His photographs often resemble paintings, influenced by Impressionism.

Context of His Work 

• The culture of post-war New York was bustling and modernizing, while he contrasts this with softness and abstraction.
• His early works influenced later color street photographers like William Eggleston.

Quotations and Response 

•   “The pictures are always stronger than you or I, whoever takes them.” – Saul Leiter

This quote emphasizes the photograph’s emotional impact, which encourages the sense of humility and respect for the power of images themselves. I agree with his quotation because it suggests that a photographer’s true strength comes from the emotion, stories, and moods it conveys to the audience, regardless of who took it. Instead of being a reflection of the photographer’s ego or self-expression, a truly great photo creates a universal experience that anyone can connect with. Leiter’s approach shows that the power of an image lies in its ability to move people and evoke feelings, making the art of photography more about what is felt and shared, rather than who is behind the camera.

•  “I never feel amateur. I fundamentally feel like a beginner, and I’m always trying to learn more.” – Saul Leiter

This quotation reflects a critical attitude towards creativity and growth. I strongly agree with the idea that no matter how experienced or skilled someone is, they should always remain curious and open to new ideas. Leiter’s mindset suggests that seeing oneself as a “beginner” keeps the creative process going because it encourages constant exploration and experimentation. This perspective pushes artists to keep developing their vision and technique, which is an essential part of evolving and producing meaningful work.

Critique—Saul Leiter’s “Snow” (1960) 

COMPOSITION/STRUCTURE

• The photograph captures a man walking on a city street on a snowy day, seen through a steamed-up and rainy window. The window creates layers and reflections, softening and abstracting the scene.
• The man is partially obscured and depersonalized by the misty glass, turning him into a form or shape rather than a clearly defined subject.

The Photos:

• Light and shadow: The stairwell creates interesting contrasts and patterns of light and shadow that add depth and mood to the photo.

• Composition framing: The stairs themselves act as natural framing elements, guiding the viewer’s eye to the friend who is the subject.

• Use of props: The umbrellas add a dynamic and colorful element, bringing interest and possibly telling a story.

• Angle and posture: Her squatting position under the stairs creates an unusual perspective that can evoke curiosity or emotion.

• Candid moment: a photo captures a natural, spontaneous pose or expression, which can feel more authentic and engaging.

• Perspective and Depth: Shot from an elevated point looking down on an empty sports field with blue seating in the foreground. This angle emphasizes space and scale.

• Rule of Thirds: The person with the umbrella is positioned off-center, adhering to the rule of thirds, which makes the composition more balanced and interesting.

• Mood and Atmosphere: The figure walking in the rain with an umbrella adds a sense of solitude and calm.

• Color Contrast: The contrast between the blue seating, green field, and subtle colors of the person helps them stand out.

• Focus on Detail: The image captures the moment raindrops hit a wet surface, creating the splashes of rain. The clarity of the raindrops in midair shows a fast shutter speed.

• Texture and Reflection: The wet concrete surface shows reflections and texture, which add depth to the picture.

• Contrast: The contrast between the shiny wet ground and the dark blue chairs in the background draws the viewer’s eye.

• Composition: The diagonal line of the edge of the ground and the row of dark blue objects create a sense of perspective and guide the viewer’s eye across the image.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a well-known French humanist photographer and also an artist. – famous for his quote, “A photograph is neither taken nor seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.” – He often captures pictures that reveal a precise instant that reveals the essence of an event or scene.

Man Jumping the Puddle (1932)

This image perfectly captures the “decisive moment” concept, showing the split second when the man is mid-air over the puddle. The composition balances the man with geometric shapes like rectangles. It exhibits dynamic motion and exquisite timing.

• Capturing the Decisive Moment: Freezing the exact instant the man is mid-air, showcasing perfect timing.

• Composition with Geometry: Use of rectangles and lines formed to balance the frame.

• Dynamic Movement: Conveying motion within a static black-and-white image.

Gestapo Informer at Dessau” (1945).

• Decisive Moment: Cartier-Bresson’s technique of capturing the exact instant that conveys the deepest meaning is shown here. The emotions and interactions among the three main subjects are frozen at a critical point.

• Black-and-White Film: The monochromatic lighting emphasizes contrasts, light, and shadow, enhancing the timeless quality.​

• Composition: The three key figures form a visual triangle of tension, with the calmness offsetting the drama between the two women.

• Angle Shot: Cartier-Bresson’s slightly lower viewpoint and close framing bring the viewer into the moment, making it intimate and immediate.​

• Symbolism: The posture, expressions, and gestures convey complex narratives and perspectives of guilt, accusation, and authority without words.​

Rue Mouffetard, Paris (1954)

• Street Photography: The photo captures an unposed, spontaneous moment of a young boy confidently carrying two wine bottles down a busy Paris street.

• Decisive Moment: The expression of joy and the boy’s proud stance were caught at the perfect moment, capturing human spirit and storytelling in a single image, known as a trademark of Cartier-Bresson’s approach.​

• Central Composition: Unlike strict rule-of-thirds framing, the boy is placed centrally to emphasize his importance and presence, making him the focus of the image.​

• Natural Light & Contrast: The photo utilizes natural daylight, providing soft contrast and a natural tone that contributes to the relaxed mood.

• Human Interest and Context: Including the blurred figures of two girls and adults in the background adds depth and context to the story, showing community and human interaction in our daily life without distracting from the main subject.​

The title of my project is “The Hands that Shape Our World.” I have developed my own individual approach to this title by focusing on capturing workers engaged in everyday overlooked tasks—railway maintenance, sidewalk tiling, and building facade repair. Each image complements the others by showing varied settings and methods.

The artists who have inspired my work the most are Sebastião Salgado and Edward Burtynsky. Salgado’s humanistic close-ups inspire my focus on the workers as the central subject, highlighting their efforts and care. Burtynsky’s large-scale industrial compositions influence my choice of photography to show the environment and tools as an essential part of the story.

In order to develop my ideas for this project, I have experimented with different perspectives—for example, the ground-level shot along the railway, the closer shots of hands and tools in tiling, and the elevated viewpoints of workers on the platform. I controlled the lighting to balance natural daylight and shadow while maintaining small details.

I chose to align these three photos like this because I wanted each photo to stand alone, yet work as part of a unified narrative storytelling of manual labor and its impact on our labor life.

Overall, the strengths of the project are my successful use of composition and lighting to highlight the human presence and tools in each daily task and the complementary nature of the images, which deepens the viewer’s understanding of the theme.

The areas that I will need to work on in future projects are expanding the narrative with more contextual or environmental shots and experimenting with creative shots to add mood without losing realism.

I believe I have successfully explored the theme of urban labor because each photo captures distinct tasks with skilled workers, diverse tools, and different spatial relations. The naturalistic color palette of warm color combinations and detailed framing unifies the series.

My decisions about how to display it included choosing a side-by-side triptych format to visually link the images while allowing viewers to appreciate each scene’s unique story.

What is personal about my work is my curiosity about the unseen, often uncelebrated efforts people make to build and maintain our everyday urban spaces. I hope viewers will understand the skill, dedication, and value of this labor through these images.

If I had more time, I would have liked to add environmental portraits and wider shots showing more of the workers’ surroundings and possibly capture different times of day or conditions to add narrative depth.

Photo 1:

• Element represented: Lines

• Analysis: This photo shows repeated white line blocks on the ceiling, enhanced by lighting that emphasizes the linear pattern.

• Why it captivates: I believe this photo worked because the repetition and contrast between the white lines and the lighting create a strong rhythm, guiding the viewer’s eye across the image.

Photo 2:

• Element represented: Pattern (lines and shapes)

• Analysis: The colorful wall composed of many small squares (pictures) forms a visually rich mosaic pattern.

• Why it captivates: The vibrant colors and repetitive square shapes create an engaging visual texture and lively rhythm for the audience.

Photo 3:

• Element represented: Lines and Pattern

• Analysis: Bold and commanding, the red wall’s repeating rectangular boxes create a strong geometric rhythm. Its vivid color of red adds emotional intensity, turning simple shapes into a visually powerful statement.

• Why it captivates: The fusion of geometric precision with the bold red hue grabs attention immediately, conveying the strength and modernity of the photo.

Photo 4:

• Element represented: Lines and Pattern

• Analysis: This photo showcases a perfectly ordered grid, where the repetitive square compartments provide a sense of balance and harmony for the theme of this photo. Its simplicity highlights the beauty in clean, structured design.

• Why it captivates: The symmetry and uniformity appeal to the human love for order, creating a calming yet visually engaging composition.

Photo 5:

• Element represented: Texture

• Analysis: This close-up emphasizes the tactile quality of the ground, showcasing the rugged, matte surface in sharp detail. The photo invites an intimate sensory experience beyond vision.

• Why it captivates: The detailed texture draws viewers in, prompting them to imagine the rough, tangible feel, enriching the photograph’s sensory appeal.

Photo 6:

• Element represented: Pattern and Lines

• Analysis: A subtly patterned wall reveals a gentle rhythm through its understated repetition. The muted tones of the blocks create an elegant backdrop that soothes the eye of the audience.

• Why it captivates: Its gentle and calming tones create a soothing and cohesive visual effect for the audience.

Overall insights:

The photos that most succeeded in expressing visual elements (photos 1, 3, and 4) of abstraction did so by exploiting clear, repeating lines and shapes that generally draw and guide the audience’s eye. Vibrant colors combined with strong geometric patterns, as seen in photos 2 and 3, added emotional impact along with vitality.

Abstract photography is a type of photography that doesn’t show a clear object or recognizable subjects. Instead, it focuses on formal elements like shapes, forms, colors, and patterns to create an expression of the photographer’s ideas or emotions in an artistic way.

Citations:

• CreativeHut (2022)
  Link: https://www.creativehut.org/what-is-abstract-photography/

• Wikipedia (2015)
  Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_photography

“Abstract photography can be defined as capturing images in which the subject isn’t the most interesting element. Albert Renger-Patzsch, Edward Weston, and Aaron Siskind photographed the ordinary to reveal its beauty. Uta Barth reversed the typical use of the camera, shooting out of focus, and Andreas Gursky photographs the repetition of elements. During this unit you will investigate appropriate examples of abstract photography and respond in your own way..”

This is a notable photograph by Albert Renger-Patzsch, “Beech Forest in Fall (Büchenwald im Herbst),” taken around 1930-1940. This photograph captures the initial natural scene with a hazy atmosphere in a beech forest.

Three things the photographer might have been interested in capturing in this picture:

1. The foggy and misty background setting creates an atmospheric and mysterious mood, enhancing the ethereal quality of the natural environment.

2. The interplay of light and shadow across the landscape emphasizes contrasts that enhance the realistic and objective portrayal of the scene.

3. The intricate natural texture and detailed surface of the beech tree husk highlight it as a vital symbol of forest life and natural beauty.

If I were a photographer, I would name this photograph ‘Silent Wakening’ because this picture evokes a quiet mood in a forest coming alive through subtle atmospheric conditions, emphasizing the stillness and the mystery of nature awakening in the forest.

Albert Renger-Patzsch’s usage of formal elements of photography:

• Line: Vertical trees create a strong upward line, guiding the audience’s gaze through the forest.
• Pattern: The repetitive pattern of vertical forms of trees generates a rhythmic effect in the image.
• Tone: Black-and-white values, from deep shadowed places to light areas, enhance the composition and mood of the photograph.

Citation:

• Renger-Patzsch, A. (c. 1930–1940). Beech Forest in Fall (Büchenwald im Herbst) [Photograph]. Art Institute of Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/30828/beech-forest-in-fall-buchenwald-im-herbst

• Wikipedia contributors. (2025, January 23). Albert Renger-Patzsch. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Renger-Patzsch

• Jeu de Paume. (n.d.). Albert Renger-Patzsch. https://jeudepaume.org/en/evenement/albert-renger-patzsch-2/

• Artblart. (2017, October 16). Tag: Renger-Patzsch Beech forest. https://artblart.com/tag/renger-patzsch-beech-forest/

Formal elements of photography refer to the following seven fundamental visual components—line, shape, form, pattern, color, texture, and space—that are an essential part of photographers creating an image. These elements work as guidance for how photos can be composed and how viewers perceive them.

The six key elements are:

1. Line: Lines are marks that guide the viewer’s eye through the image, connect elements, or create boundaries within the image. Lines can be straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. Picfair, “Understanding the 7 formal elements of photography,” 8th September 2020.
   https://focus.picfair.com/articles/7-formal-elements-photography, Accessed 3rd September 2025.
2. Shape & Form: Photos demonstrating geometric shapes or three-dimensional form in composition and lighting. Aidan Hendrickse, “The Formal Elements,” 2025.
   http://aidanhendrickse.weebly.com/the-formal-elements.html, accessed 3rd September 2025.
3. Pattern: Patterns include repetition of elements like lines, shapes, or colors to create rhythm, unity, or visual appeal in its composition. The School of Photography, “Pattern in Photography,” 11th June 2025.
   https://www.theschoolofphotography.com/tutorials/pattern-in-photography, Accessed 3rd September 2025.
4. Color: Photos using saturated colors that set the mood and create emphasis of the picture. Bailly Lectures, “Formal Elements of Photography,” 17th November 2023.
   https://baillylectures.com/fiu/art-miami/formal-elements-of-photography/, accessed 3rd September 2025.
5. Texture: The surface quality or feel of an object in a photo, like rough, smooth, or soft, which adds realism or emotion to the picture. National Gallery of Victoria, “Formal Elements,” 2018.
   https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/picture-perfect-pictorialism-and-its-processes/, Accessed 3rd September 2025.
6. Space: Photos using positive and negative space to create balance and depth of the photo. Photography Life, “The Elements of Photography,” 15th February 2021.
   https://photographylife.com/elements-of-photography, Accessed 3rd September 2025

The Pictorialism Movement in photography emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was well-known for focusing on elevating photography to the level of fine art by mimicking the qualities of drawings and paintings.

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away Photograph. Pictorialism, Tim Layton Fine Art, 19th September 2024. https://timlaytonfineart.com/pictorialism/, Accessed 3rd September 2025.

Pictorialist photographers used techniques such as soft focus and manual manipulation to produce atmospheric or emotional effects rather than sharp realism. Their movements valued aesthetics and emotional expression over sharp, detailed realism, making photographers and audiences resemble impressionistic artworks rather than straightforward depictions of subjects.

Straight photography was characterized by sharp focus and minimal manipulation, emphasizing reality directly through the lens. This approach made straight photography’s qualities unique by relying on composition, light, and detail rather than artistic alteration.

Paul Strand, Bowls Photograph. Straight Photography, The Art Story, 30th October 2017. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/straight-photography/, Accessed 3rd September 2025.

Aaron Siskind and Edward Weston are two well-known photographers who were influenced by the Straight Photography Movement.

Weston‘s close-ups of shells, peppers, and landscapes highlight natural forms with a conceptual quality, demonstrating his remarkable composition and attention to detail.

Similarly, despite his initial abstract approach, Siskind used careful framing and keen focus to capture textures and patterns from commonplace objects. By accurately and artistically capturing reality and emphasizing the inherent beauty of their subjects, their images perfectly capture the ideals of the movement.

Citations:

• Campbell, Josephine, Pictorialism Movement Overview. EBSCO Research Starters, 2nd March 2025. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/visual-arts/pictorialism-movement, Accessed 3rd September 2025.

• Flash of Darkness, When Photos Looked Like Paintings—Pictorialism, 30th August 2025. https://flashofdarkness.com/pictorialism/, Accessed 3rd September 2025.

• The Art Story, Straight Photography Movement Overview, 30th October 2017. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/straight-photography/, Accessed 3rd September 2025.

• Tim Layton Fine Art, Pictorialism, 19th September 2024. https://timlaytonfineart.com/pictorialism/, Accessed 3rd September 2025.