Homage to Lee Friedlander

from Los Angeles Series 2005, by Walt Opie

Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art

"Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1972," by Lee Friedlander. He said he deliberately includes "those poles and trees and stuff" that other photographers avoid.

The top photo is my tribute to the work of Lee Friedlander, and especially to the photo by him above, which is currently on display at SF MoMA. I went to see the show on Sunday, and it was my idea of a great show--400 images by the master. My only complaint is that I would have been happy to look at three times that many prints.

Of course my image pales when placed next to his, but this was the best way to show how they are related. Everything in his frame echoes the open mouth of the dog, and everything in my image echoes the walking man's legs. What I think makes mine work is the sandwich board and the walking man sign cut off at the legs in the upper left corner. I also enjoy that my shot has the top of the stop sign in it, and his doesn't, which highlights what he intentionally cut off.

I'm not trying to compare myself to Lee Friedlander (my image here isn't even sharp), but rather I'm just having some fun and pointing out one of my heroes. There are several other things similar about these two photos though--can you spot them?

Link