I have a page on Facebook called CRIMINAL INTENT. You may want to get over there, give it a LIKE.
Anyway, today I posted a link to an article about the NYPD digitising thousands of their crime scene photographs. The link included some of the shots.
And it got me thinking. I don’t do that often so don’t stop me now.
Weegee, is what I was thinking. Not the slang for Glaswegian but the nickname of Arthur Fellig, one of the greatest photographers ever to take to the rain-swept streets of the city. He worked for the tabloids, a snapper for hire and he was a master craftsman.
You’ll find an excellent 2006 article from the New York Times here:
I love noir and his pictures were quintessential. Bums, broads, hookers and hit men, all passed before his lens. Bullet-riddled bodies of some hapless wise guy had to have the dead guy’s hat in shot. He used t say murder was his business but he was more than that. He chronicled the big bad city like no-one before or since.
And it’s all in wonderful black and white. Woody Allen is right, New York should be seen in monochrome. And Weegee did it proud.
There is a satisfying, but little known, film called ‘The Public Eye’ in which Joe Pesci was fittingly cast as a thinly-disguised Weegee character. If you haven’t seen it then it’s worth seeking out. It’s not in black and white but it could be. The colour’s washed out, like it’s been through a few puddles.
I’ll bet Weegee was a character, a great guy to have a beer with, just to hear his stories.
You can find a copy of his book ‘Naked City’ here