Elliott Erwitt’s strange and sublime city photos

Paris-born photographer and filmmaker Elliott Erwitt has captured scenes all over the world.

But his New York photos, dating from the 1940s to the 2000s, come off as especially poetic, showcasing the pathos and isolation inherent in modern city life.

[A boy rides the Third Avenue El in this 1955 shot]

They’re also witty, bringing the viewer in on the joke with a focus on the weird and ridiculous—like the two grown men duking it out under an el platform in 1950, or the dog and masked owner on a stoop in 2000.

Here’s what a New York Times reviewer had to say back in May, when a retrospective of Erwitt’s work opened at the International Center of Photography.

“Mr. Erwitt has been a seeker of the ‘decisive moment,’ an instant in real time when people, animals or objects appear before the camera in surprising and illuminating ways. What distinguishes Mr. Erwitt’s work has been his keen eye for the comedy in everyday life.”

Weegee: life and crime in black and white

Photographer Weegee—born Usher Fellig in 1899—got his nickname thanks to his Ouji Board–like ability to arrive at crime scenes almost as fast as the bullets flew and the bodies fell.

But Weegee, at left at his 5 Centre Market Street apartment, wasn’t psychic.

The Austria native, who grew up on the Lower East Side, had a shortwave radio that let him listen in on police calls.

He also built a darkroom in his car so he could get his photos to New York’s tabloids in record time.

Weegee didn’t earn his iconic status simply because he was quick. His stark black-and-white shots of gangsters, street kids, regular joes, trashy women, and crowds defined the New York noir style of the 1930s and 1940s.

[At left, “Joy of Living,” 1942, chronicles a hit and run death outside a Third Avenue movie theater]

His 1945 book of photos was even the inspiration for the 1948 classic crime drama, The Naked City.

He wasn’t all about blood and grit. Weegee had a Fellini-esque eye for the weird and wonderful, as well as a soft spot for the tender—such as his 1938 photo of city kids sleeping on a tenement fire escape.

In his 1961 memoir, Weegee wrote: “Crime was my oyster. I was friend and confidant to them all. The bookies, madams, gamblers, call girls, pimps, con men, burglars and jewel fencers.”

He died in his Hell’s Kitchen apartment in 1968. Here’s more on Weegee’s life and photos, from the International Center of Photography.

[Above: “Crime Scene of David ‘the Beetle’ Beadle” 1939]