The Colorful Street Photography of Saul Leiter

[@q2moto54]

please drink water so your throat won't get dry..

[@AlexCCarter]

Good life advice in general

[@tommartin9731]

The string you pulled exposed the essence of Leiter's work and a point I've tried to make for years to any photographer who would listen, which is that a clearly identifiable subject does all the work for the viewer and leaves nothing else for them to do. It's like walking through a garden naming all the flowers without smelling any. Leiter's images invite you in, to spend time feeling the shapes, colors, and geometry and makes the viewer ask questions, to think, and to feel. The subject is all of these things. I'm 71 years old, and I wish I had understood Leiter so well when I was your age. Stay true.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thank you for the kind words. "to spend time feeling the shapes, colors, and geometry and makes the viewer ask questions, to think, and to feel." such a beautiful summation of such an important idea

[@darkerarts]

I work as a press photographer, I get front page images, I look at Saul's work, and I feel like I have achieved nothing. It is heartbreaking, but inspiring

[@Muchtoobizy]

I'm a Saul Leiter admirer and have no idea what took KZbin so long to present this video to me. You are obviously as enthralled with his work as I am. Anyone who has ever tried to create images in his style (as I have), will understand even more how great the man was. I'd love to know more about his approach; did he sit at the same hazy window for hours, waiting for the right elements to come together to create a superb photo? His style has inspired so many photographers today. Hats off to Mr Leiter, "Sir"

[@willypaul70]

“Don’t be concerned what everyone else is doing, just focus on capturing your view of the world and you’ll be fine…”. Great words to live by. Thank you Alex for a great video!

[@ChrisBrogan]

Just stumbled in here. What a swell video. Thank you for your thoughts and your presentation here. Very good stuff.

[@caseyguthery662]

Thank you Saul for making us all feel insignificant as artists.

[@AlexCCarter]

Accurate

[@OwenEDell]

Beautifully expressed. Leiter is indeed sui generis. His work, along with that of Vivian Maier and Robert Frank, is the best of modern photography. Heart-opening and powerful, it teaches about life. Thank you for taking this on and for doing such a fine job with it.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thank you for the kind words

[@matthewTobrien]

This was terrific. Definitely going to check out the doc on Prime and some of those KZbin videos you mentioned. This makes me want to spend a few days just wandering around taking photos. Very inspiring.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thank you man! Highly recommend the doc for sure

[@bifcake]

I have stumbled across this video, and I was duly impressed by your analysis. You've done a good job tying pieces together. I had discovered Saul Leiter fairly recently and I'm in love with his work as much as you seem to be. There are a few things that I would touch upon: I don't think that it would be accurate to classify Leiter's work as "street photography". It seems more of semi-abstract work. You still recognize the objects, but they're not important in an of themselves. His work is about shapes, color, the interplay of light and dark (that theme comes up quite a bit over and over again). It's the interplay of red against yellow and black with occasional blue or green accents. He was indeed painting with the camera. Funny enough, he applied the same concept of shapes and color interplay to his fashion work. It was and still is quite unusual and it's worth checking out.

[@anta40]

Perhaps you want to call it "abstract photography on the street"... or something like that? Indeed Leiter's style is not the feel immersive "hey I'm in the street" documentary style, famously done by HCB, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, etc.

[@corinnapeters6775]

So beautiful, so inspiring. I could not take my eyes of some of the pictures. Thank you for bringing Saul Leiter to our attention.

[@AlexCCarter]

Glad you connected to his work. Beautiful stuff for sure

[@RediRealEstate]

Well done. Love your prospective of Saul Leiter's work.

[@Stargate_Project]

Great work📽 about great Saul Leiter❤️❤️❤️📸

[@dmitry8498]

Fantastic video, thanks very much!

[@guysansom6849]

Great, well made and very interesting. Sauls photography is beautiful.

[@CasualPrince]

I think you did a brilliant job showcasing his work and talking about how it impacts you/the viewer, and why. I feel the same in that (paradoxically), it's his lack of clarity that is so clear to us. Therein lies the truth. His photos don't let my mind settle on a conclusion, and in doing so, keep it/them alive, which surely truth is? Thanks again, and I look forward to more videos. 👍🏻

[@johnhoey4605]

The only photographer whose work makes me want to cry; Fred Herzog comes close too. But Saul’s work by a long shot makes him the greatest photographer to ever hold a camera.

[@paulvallance4347]

Lovely selection of photographs and background music. I like the slow meditative way you present them.

[@jeffhixson2620]

You’re doing a great job of describing it! This video has changed me, changed the way I look at things. Changed the way I think about my photography. Thank you

[@AlexCCarter]

Thanks so much for the kind words. Glad you found some good takeaways.

[@CarmineGroe]

Thank you Alex. Very well done and inspiring - Saul Leiter's work and this presentation.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thank you so much. His work is something special for sure

[@davidrosenphotography]

Wonderful and insightful. Thank you

[@AlexCCarter]

Glad you enjoyed. Saul was truly a special talent

[@kristian21]

Great video, Alex! Saul Leiter is one of my favourite photographers.

[@_H_2023]

What is amazing about all these old school photographers is everything was done by the photographer with an all manual camera not like are digital cameras that potentially can produce perfect images. If you get to see Saul Leiter's slides they are just like the print no P.S, Lightroom these guys understood exposure where as we tend to let the camera suggest everything for us which is less of an art really.

[@greadore]

Great video. I’m new to street photography although been doing photography for about 6 years now. I definitely relate the most to Saul Leiter, really like his stuff and that he used telephoto lenses!

[@romaindesigalas3937]

very inspiring, thanks

[@SquareGshock]

I really like the series Alex, keep up the good work.

[@AlexCCarter]

Glad you enjoyed it. Definitely excited to do more

[@Stargate_Project]

Hello Alex. Amazing video about great art. Alex from Russia🙋

[@ledesclos5321]

Well done Alex. Thank you. I wanted to learn about Saul Leiter and you made that happen.

[@AlexCCarter]

💙

[@Gravitys-NOT-a-force]

I think Mr. Leiter would be very happy with your video. I have a book on Saul Leiter's photography, and I think you've done a much better job of capturing the essence of his work.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thank you so much for the kind words.

[@cindygonzalez4683]

Love the take away message. :D What music did you use. Love it.

[@AlexCCarter]

Should be tagged in the description. Thanks for watching :)

[@davidpetras7483]

Really really great video. Loved it.

[@muzmix123]

Outstanding 📸🎞️😎

[@AlexCCarter]

Appreciate it :)

[@richardsimms251]

Great video. Very enjoyable. I appreciate all your work to make this. RS. Canada

[@MattDWardell]

Yes, I too love Ted Forbes 'older' videos, but don't sell yourself short Alex ie you brought some ideas to the table that I at least have not seen mentioned in other videos. It was a great video about a fabulous photographer.

[@AlexCCarter]

Really appreciate that

[@bobsyeruncle4841]

You have shone some light on Leiter for me thanks.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thanks for watching

[@evenatienzaart]

Your choice of music harmonizes with the poetic intimacy of Leiter’s pictures. And I say ‘pictures’ intentionally because they transcend photographs to reveal the ineffable magic of seeing in our complex, modern urban experience.

[@gabriellatis]

great video !

[@bobwilliams557]

This was quite good, Alex. Looking forward to more videos like this.

[@AlexCCarter]

Thank you. Definitely more to come. Like to really do my research on these so they take a bit longer to put together

[@Stargate_Project]

Absolutely👍👍👍💯📸🎞

[@johnhoey4605]

Can he possibly be the greatest photographer to ever pick up a camera? I’d say yes. Just my opinion, of course. But I’ll defend this position with my heart and soul. Mesmerizing doesn’t come close to describing this man’s work.

[@rostanddarbouze5735]

Well done my friend. The choice of music makes it Epic

[@AlexCCarter]

💙

[@REF10745]

Great video! I learned a lot. Midland Pictures brought me here. Do you think Leiters way of taking photographes can be repeated today? I have a feeling that his kind of pictures are a reflection of a life that doesn't exist anymore. The 20th century look (industrialised world)...also it feels like all his work that you showed has been shot in the morninglight..his pictures don't seen cold but neither warm..for me they do feel like documentation, contrary to what you have said, just beautiful documentation. In all his work you showed, even of just the green light for example, i see a statement about humanity. I think it's fabuleus, so thank you again for the introduction. Greetings from Slovenia/Belgium

[@AlexCCarter]

Haha promise I’m not ignoring this comment, just haven’t had the time to sit down and be thoughtful about a reply!

[@hkleinespel]

Just subscribed based only on this video ! Good work

[@AlexCCarter]

[@Boatzerama]

He’s photographing an experience, but Alex couldn’t explain this statement.

[@AlexCCarter]

I'll make an attempt. I think of it in the way we as individuals look at and perceive the world and environments around us. How this perception and interpretation in the hands of a great artist can differ so much from the average that it's almost paranormal. I listened to someone describe Kubrick films in this light not long ago and I feel that that's a good analogy to use. Kubrick was this strange guy who saw the world very different from the layman (I don't use that term to be derogatory) because of this, we see a Kubrick movie and it's so unique, so distinctive and peculiar to his experience that it's hard to recognize in some regards. It's what draws people to his work in a lot of ways.. to see what his take or perception would be on some arbitrary and mundane aspect of the human experience. In my opinion, Saul experienced the world around him in a unique and distinctive way and figured out a method of translating this into his photographs. The success he had at doing this, blows me away every time I see a photo of his. The translating the experience into a photo aspect is not the difficult part.. easy enough for us to look at with a monday morning quarterback mentality, but being able to see the world in a way that differs so drastically from almost every other human... that's amazing if you ask me. Sorry if some of this comes off as unclear, still working through these ideas myself.

[@Stargate_Project]

💯💯💯📸

[@laineyfoster1162]

Hi Alex, absolutely loved watching this video of yours. A respectful, well considered reflection of a truly amazing photographer. Would be keen to know if you have an instagram account that we can follow, to see how the likes of Leiter inspire your work. Lainey

[@AlexCCarter]

I do. @made.by_alex

[@robertbutts8866]

Just an amazing artist.. I am so influenced by his work.. (I am a documentary photographer) 2 other photographers you should post about are Robert Frank and Tish Murtha.. the Saul Lieter doc. on his work and the person is incredible

[@AlexCCarter]

Great suggestions!

[@carlitodcreative]

Great video!

[@AlexCCarter]

Thanks for watching!