Lee Friedlander

 Lee Friedlander was born on July 14th, 1934, in Washington. His main focus was on documenting urban life. He would take pictures of stores, buildings, signs, and more using reflections as his main photography style. Due to his achievements, he has won numerous accolades and even had his work put into multiple museums worldwide such as the Museum of Modern Art based in New York and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. Personally, while I do find some of his pictures pleasing to the eye, I don't really see any deeper meaning or a new perspective he's trying to convey. All these pictures are to me aesthetically pleasing noise, nothing groundbreaking or transformative. 

One example of what I mean is this picture above. It's a black and white picture showing a man inside an older-looking car holding onto the steering wheel. Behind him shows a nice view consisting of many homes. I think that this picture is very interesting and visually appealing. I like the fact that Lee decided to incorporate black and white in order to keep all distracting elements away. It seems to use the rule of thirds, putting the man in the car into focus in the beginning before allowing us to roam our eyes across the rest of the picture.  The man's expression is also interesting, as it looks like he's weary or possibly frustrated. I just think that trying to find out the man's emotions seems like a compelling reason to continue to observe this photograph. However, aside from this, there is nothing else to it. In comparison to someone like Steve McCurry, Lee's photos don't seem to have a deeper, more important meaning. A visually appealing picture but lacking substance or something substantial to make an observer continue to dig in. 

This picture depicts a busy part of a neighborhood in Canada, showing a gas station and stores with multiple people walking in between the streets. I think it looks really nice because it shows the chaos and hecticness of urban environments considering how people are everywhere. All of them are doing their own thing and living their own lives. It really reminds me of home and brings a sense of nostalgia to the mix. I also find it fascinating to observe how different yet similar the times were from back then till now. The gas pumps look both foreign and relatable, creating a weird contrast for me. It's also interesting how there isn't a roof over the gas station like most ones have, which makes it seem so much more open than the ones we have now. I just like the late 20th-century aesthetic being shown in the photograph, but again like the other picture, there seems to be nothing deeper. A visually impeccable work of art, but nothing of substance. It makes me feel conflicted about whether this is good art or not.