Photos by Joel Meyerowitz: Taking My Time

Joel Meyerowitz’s photos sneak up on you. Though you may not recognize his name at first glance, a quick overview of his photographs is likely to ring one bell or another. It’s the gleam of the thigh in the uniform of a female bus driver in Los Angeles, circa 1976. It’s a street shot of a man who has fallen on the sidewalk in Paris and the strangers who step over him to get to work. Whether featuring a crying babe in Mexico or a four way intersection of Midtown NYC, Meyerowitz finds value in the intimate day-to-day drama of a city’s most typical inhabitants. Born in the Bronx in 1938, Meyerowitz began taking spontaneous photos of New York City in the 60’s and 70’s. He has grown to become one of the most influential names in photography and is often credited for changing the attitude people had toward color photography from one of resistance to universal acceptance.

In November he had an exhibit at the Howard Greenberg Gallery for which the New York Times provided an online slideshow preview. His show at Paris’s Maison Européenne de la Photographie continues through April 7th and has received rave reviews from BBC, ABC News and Le Monde. It is a beautiful space for a fascinating and thorough retrospective.

This June, Phaidon is releasing Taking My Time; a limited two volume edition of Meyerowitz’s photographs from the 1960’s through present day. Pre-order it online now.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2013 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.