Eric Kim: 10 Lessons William Klein has taught me about Street Photography

William Klein

William Klein (born April 19, 1928) is a photographer and filmmaker noted for his ironic approach^[1][2] to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography.^[1] He was ranked 25th on Professional Photographer‘s Top 100 Most influential photographers.^[3]

Trained as a painter, Klein studied under Fernand Léger and found early success with exhibitions of his work. However, he soon moved on to photography and achieved widespread fame as a fashion photographer for Vogue and for his photo essays on various cities. Despite having no training as a photographer, Klein won the Prix Nadar in 1957 for New York, a book of photographs taken during a brief return to his hometown in 1954. Klein’s work was considered revolutionary for its “ambivalent and ironic approach to the world of fashion”,^[1] its “uncompromising rejection of the then prevailing rules of photography”^[1] and for his extensive use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses, natural lighting and motion blur.^[1] Klein tends to be cited in photography books along with Robert Frank as among the fathers of street photography, one of those mixed compliments that classifies a man who is hard to classify …..Wiki

Eric Kim on his blog has listed 10 things that William Klein can teach us about street photography

1. Get close and personal

2. Keep a ‘photographic diary’

3. Go against the grain

To see the rest and the reasons why getting close and personal matters go here

©William Klein