Joel Meyerowitz

Cape Cod

Fifth Avenue, New York City

Born in 1938, Joel Meyerowitz is a street photographer from New York who was also one of the beginning pioneers for color photography in the arts.  His photographs contain interesting angles, compositions and even stories.  I was mainly drawn to "Cape Cod" due to the use of color combinations.  The light blue sky, whites, and oranges create a beach like atmosphere while the wind is also blowing the fabric around into kite like figures.  Even without the title of "Cape Cod", I would still associate this picture with a beach theme.  "Fifth Avenue, New York City" is obviously one of his street photographs, and it remains as a very strong subject.  We can see the little clean girl looking out the window, wearing all white, with fancy drapes surrounding her while a man is outside in the foreground sitting on the ground with no money and obviously no home.  I feel like this sums up our society in America pretty well.  We have such a large problem between the overly rich and poor in America, that they can even live on each others doorstep and we consider it normal.  I think the story that this photograph tells makes it such a successful piece.