Helen Levitt is known as a “photographer’s photographer” a photographer who is admired by photographers everywhere, but not that well known. Since the raise of fame of Vivian Maier— I wanted to profile the work of Helen Levitt, and share the work of talented female street photographers.
Helen Levitt is one of my favorite street photographers – as I love her celebration of life through the classic shots of NYC. To me her work speaks to my heart- the small joys of everyday life through the children on the streets and people just living their everyday lives out and about in the neighborhoods of New York.
I recently visited the photography section of the MOMA, and came upon a slideshow of Helen Levitt’s Slides (in the video above). In 1959 and 1960 she received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation to shoot the streets of New York in color (her previous work was done in black and white). A crazy story is that the best of her shots were stolen from her apartment in 1970. However undeterred, she continued to shoot and her work was featured at the MOMA (in 1974). What remains is a soulful look into the city, in the vibrant medium of color which was very underutilized in that era.
If you want to see more color photos by Helen Levitt (in high resolution), check out this feature on her on American Suburb X here.
Below are some lovely books by Helen Levitt (and affordable!). Highly recommend you guys to pick up a copy via Amazon.
What do you think of Helen Levitt’s work – and which of her images are your favorite? Share your thoughts and love in the comments below!Â