André Kertész is one of those photographers that may not be that well known in the general public, but he’s quite well known among those interested in photography. He has been called “one of the fathers of photojournalism and street photography.”
Kertész was born 1894 in Hungary, where he started his career in photography. He moved to Paris in 1925 and spent many years there before moving to the USA in 1936, where he lived until he died in 1985.
My favorite Kertész photos, are those that we today would call street photography. Take, for example, “The Champs Elysées, Paris” or “Broken Bench, Long Island.”
But also still lifes, like “Fork” — amazing.
There’s a simplicity over his photographs, a simplicity that is at the same time complex. And his photographs are for the most part stringently composed, you can feel a structure and purpose to the content and its frame.
And Kertész photographs everyday things and people, doing their ting, being who and what they are. He finds meaning and beauty in that, in a way that I find fascinating.
I guess it’s something that I’ve been trying to replicate, in a way, without succeeding.
But enough for now. If you haven’t checked out André Kertész, go do so.
