Saul Leiter: Early Black and White

I have enjoyed Saul Leiter's colour work for a few years now and I have been highly anticipating this release. The two books are beautifully presented and printed. The images show the work of a photographer at the start of a photographic life and you can see how his style develops through time.The first book covers photographs of friends and family, some of the portraits are truly outstanding, his use of reflections and out of focus areas masking parts of the scene are amazing and look contemporary and original. His use of composition and light is amazing. The second book is mainly based around street photography, here you can see the use of reflections, strong contrast and shadows, the style of photography so magnificently shown in his colour work is here in black and white. There is a wide range of styles shown, some of which work better than others but taken as whole the two book series shows off Saul Leiter to his best.The first book is my favourite of the 2, the portraits and nudes show Leiter in a different light and this work is very different to his colour work, in fact I feel the first book has now become my favourite of all of Leiters books and is worth the admission fee on its own.

Exactly what one would expect from Leiter and the publishers, marred by a single flaw: too small to be fully enjoyable. It should have been at least a third larger to make comfortable reading and viewing.A better model would have been the eponymous Saul Leiter, from Kehrer, at approx. 22.5 cms x 27 cms, which would have been pretty much ideal.

If you love photography you'll love this. The wit is just, well amazing

very happy with my purchase

Great book, of great photographer!! Like it a lot!

What an amazing book! My husband was delighted that I had managed to get him one.

Pictures speak for themselves. Definitely worth reviewing and having in your library if you are even a bit serious about photography.

Amazing book.