The masters of street photography #3 : Fred Herzog

After Austria last week and Ernst Haas, we move a bit North to Germany, birth place of photographer Fred Herzog. Similarly to Ernst Haas, it is in North America that Fred Herzog produced most of his street work during the 50's and 60's, more specifically in the Canadian city of Vancouver.

Discover a full series of his pictures by clicking on the Pinterest link below.

Abonnez-vous au tableau Fred Herzog de Yanidel sur Pinterest.

Quick facts/observations about Fred Herzog
 
– Though he spent the first 20 years of his life in Germany, he only started to take pictures seriously once in Canada.
– He shot mostly side film (Kodachrome), making great use of its saturated colors.
– he shot mostly working class people in ordinary daily situations.
– like many street photographers, it is only recently that his work has been discovered by the general public. 
– Fred Herzog is a great example of how street photographers help document daily life for future generations to discover them.
– on color vs B&W "First of all when you do black and white all have is the basic resource, a negative. That needs a lot of dancing around the darkroom and time and patience and energy. You should ideally be a man of leisure, an English gentleman. And a lot of English gentlemen did serious and beautiful photography. But I didn’t have time for that. That’s one reason [I did colour slides]. I’d get 36 slides back, beautiful, finish."**
 
If I could ask him a question ….
 
– did you have a long beard that needed to be trimmed several days a week ?
 
To discover more about Fred Herzog
 
Interview : do not miss this great interview of Fred Herzog on American SuburbX **, full of insights on his career and way to work.

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