Archives65 years of photographing
Olympics fever: Coney Island style! - by Harold Feinstein
I’m sorry to disappoint my readers by saying the I won’t be competing in the Olympics this year. My arthritic hip is acting up on me again and I was disqualified from my usual figure skating performance. However I will be watching. And watching is exactly what I’m good at anyway! At Coney Island, watching… Continue reading
Old “new” photographs: A lifetime of editing - by Harold Feinstein
The entire process of photography is editing – in one form or another. You choose one moment over another; one subject over another. And, when you’re reviewing your work either on a contact sheet or a computer screen, you decide which image belongs in your portfolio. Those you don’t choose are largely determined by whatever… Continue reading
Gene Smith, James Karales and me: Remembering the Pittsburgh Project - by Harold Feinstein
I want to recommend to my readers a terrific blog post recently published in The Paris Review written by Sam Stephenson. Entitled In the Darkroom with W. Eugene Smith, the blog shares some of the history of Gene’s passionate, and some would say obsessed, absorption in The Pittsburgh Project — an undertaking that Stephenson aptly… Continue reading
Upon reflection: Getting into the picture you’re taking - by Harold Feinstein
A few weeks ago, the International Center for Photography‘s blog, Fans in a Flashbulb, put out a post entitled The Photographer’s Eye or the Eye of the Camera? , which included my photograph above. The writer, Renske van Leeuwen, was exploring the questions and layers of perception that arise from photographs that include the photographer.… Continue reading
How wide is wide enough? Flirtations with the Widelux - by Harold Feinstein
After 67 years of photographing, remembering the cameras I’ve used is a bit like reminiscing about relationships. Some turn out to be real love affairs, others are flings, but no matter what, they are all old friends at this point — I’m happy to say. In the past year, I’ve written a couple of other… Continue reading
Summer’s Last Hurrah? At Coney Island it’s never over! - by Harold Feinstein
Labor Day comes and goes… and suddenly we’re told it’s all over! No more sunshine and warm days? No more hot dogs and cotton candy? No more Cyclone? Says who? The beaches in New York City are now “officially closed”, the lifeguards have gone home, and parents are buying school supplies for their kids. No… Continue reading
Available light: Coney Island at Night - by Harold Feinstein
As a street photographer, my typical modus operandi was to set my camera to automatic exposure (if possible), with great depth of field and bring lots of film, which I bought 100 feet at a time and rolled onto cartridges myself. This way I had my camera at the ready and could just click away… Continue reading
Remembering the Forgotten War: Reflections on the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War armistice, July 27, 2013 - by Harold Feinstein
Tomorrow President Obama and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will head to the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the three year Korean War. As a veteran of that war, I am glad that the nearly 37,000 U.S. troops who lost their… Continue reading
The PDN Awards party and other ways to have fun - by Harold Feinstein
It was a quick trip down to New York for the PDN Photo Annual Awards party. Definitely a good time was had by all, including yours truly. My book Harold Feinstein: A Retrospective received an award in the Photo Books category together with other esteemed folks. I felt particularly honored because my personal favorite book… Continue reading
The Rolleiflex camera: Love at first sight - by Harold Feinstein
Someone once asked me what my favorite camera was. That’s easy. The Rolleiflex medium format TLR. In fact I would call it the most beautiful camera I’ve ever seen. It was relatively easy to use, light weight, extraordinarily well-constructed, simple and had the best lenses in the business. Everything worked again and again and again.… Continue reading
Coney Island Sideshow goes uptown! - by Harold Feinstein
Run don’t walk to “Sideshow” an exhibition of early Coney Island memorabilia starting May 2nd at The Ross Art Group’s Manhattan gallery. If I could, I would be there. Opening night will feature not only a cornucopia of early Coney Island exotica, but the added attraction of some of Coney Island USA’s Sideshow by the… Continue reading
The ICP, Earth Day and me: Celebrating the beauty that surrounds us - by Harold Feinstein
Over the week-end a friend sent me a link to a blog featuring my work. Fans in a Flashbulb: Images from the collections of The International Center for Photography is a blog that shares photographs from the ICP’s permanent collection with text by members of the staff. The International Center for Photography has 93 of… Continue reading
Long before there was Photoshop… photomontages - by Harold Feinstein
Last week I was asked to speak at the Endicott College School of Visual and Performing Arts, a great little gem of an art school overlooking the ocean in Beverly, MA. I was a special guest for the opening of an exhibition curated by Boston University’s Photographic Resource Center entitled “Unconventional Inventions: Innovative, unusual, and… Continue reading
The Olympus Pen half-frame camera: Keeping it simple! - by Harold Feinstein
At my Aperture event recently a former student asked whether or not my new book contained any photographs taken with the Olympus Pen half frame camera I used during the mid-60’s. The answer is yes. It was a camera I loved using. Interestingly, the photo above, Beauty Parlor Window (1964), appeared on Mike Johnston’s excellent… Continue reading
A monumental difference: More reflections on W. Eugene Smith - by Harold Feinstein
One morning last week I sat down at the breakfast table and Judith greeted me with: “Wait till you hear this!” She proceeded to read me the first sentence from a blog posting she’d just come across. The author Daniel Milnor a documentary photographer living in the Southwest bemoaned “I somehow managed to graduate from… Continue reading
Up-date on the Photo League Negatives - by Harold Feinstein
Several months ago I posted a blog announcing my discovery of some negatives I took at a Photo League meeting from 63 years ago! I bemoaned the fact that I could only remember some of the faces from these photos and asked my readers to come forward with names of others I could not identify.… Continue reading
At a Photo League Meeting, 1949 — Lost and Found Photographs - by Harold Feinstein
Now that I’m 81, I often say to my wife Judith, “There’s nothing wrong with my memory, I just forgot where I put it!” So when I discovered some negatives from a Photo League meeting I attended 63 years ago buried in a box, I tried to conjure up my eighteen-year-old’s memory and put a… Continue reading
Jazz for the soul: Blue Note records, the “Jazz Loft”, and “Eric in the Evening” - by Harold Feinstein
It was 1954 and I was 23 when I became one of New York City’s first loft-dwellers. I moved into 821 Sixth Avenue in New York with painter David Young and musicians Hall Overton and Dick Carey. I hadn’t been back from Korea for too long, my marriage had ended and I was out of… Continue reading