Arthur H. Fellig, aka Weegee’.
It has been said for many years that the photojournalists’ creed is “f 8 and be
there!” Interestingly, nobody knows who first uttered those words and applied
them to journalism, but they remain pertinent, even today in the instant digital
age.
Since everyone and their dog has a smart phone these days, the chances of
missing that earth shattering photo because you can’t find the correct f stop,
are very much less than before, so the “f 8” side of things is covered by Mr.
Android in the phone.
The “be there” side of photojournalism is also covered by the smart phone, as
everyone has their phone with them, as opposed to the camera, which is often
left at home.
The job of a photojournalist is to get back to the editor with a usable
photograph of some event, be that a fire, a debutante ball or the South African
Chamber of Commerce networking night, but any photograph is better than nothing
at all.
The photojournalist’s creed of f8 and be there may have come from Arthur H.
Fellig, known as ‘Weegee’. Born in Poland in 1899, he came to America in 1909.
“I saw an ad in a mail order catalogue which I sent away for: a tintype camera,
and I decided to go into photography.” Even that statement was typical of this
man. He didn’t wait to see if he was going to be any good - he was a “doer” and
just waded right in and “did it”. You can warm to people with that much
self-confidence.
He worked for a few studios and then got a job in the darkroom at Acme
Newspapers. Life in the newspaper business is always exciting and frantic.
Arthur H. Fellig reveled in that excitement. He had found his niche. He was only
21 years old but he decided he was going to be a freelance news photographer.
He soon became known as the first on the scene of any newsworthy happening, be
that fire, murder, suicide or landslide. He was so uncannily aware of what was
happening that people began to feel he had some kind of psychic powers of
prediction. At that time, America was also in the middle of a Ouija Board fad
and from this Fellig was to adopt his nickname “Weegee”.
Of course Weegee was not psychic, but just used to sleep fully clothed, with a
police radio on his pillow. In the boot of his car was his “office”, complete
with typewriter to knock out the words, spare film and lots of flash bulbs.
Weegee would arrive, record the shot, type the words and have everything on the
editor’s desk within the hour. It was no wonder that Weegee was so popular with
the news media of the day. (He would be even more popular today!)
By 1935, Life magazine was doing features on Weegee and his work. There was no
doubt about the fact that he had the photographic “eye”, but for Weegee, the
subject was the all important part of the photograph. And the subject he dealt
with was done incredibly directly. Weegee was not one to be horrified by the
sights before him, such as gangland killings. He took the shot that kept that
horror for the eyes of the newspaper readers the next day. (Interestingly, that
direct, confrontational photographic style is still used in the Thai language
papers today - check any front pages for graphic images.) Another quote from
this amazing man, “I like to get different shots and don’t like to make the same
shots the other dopes do.” When asked what his formula was he replied, “I just
laugh. I have no formula, I’m just myself, take me or leave me. I don’t put on
an act. I don’t try to make a good or bad impression. I’m just Weegee.”
Weegee will be remembered for his record of the seamier side of New York life.
This was put into book form, called the Naked City and was published in 1945.
Unfortunately, the wide public recognition that came from this book ended the
directly grotesque nature of his images and Weegee went to Hollywood where
tinsel-town swallowed him up. He died in 1969.
