Join us for a special conversation between two prolific New York City street photographers: Melissa O’Shaughnessy and Alex Webb. They will discuss Perfect Strangers: New York City Street Photographs, a sought-after title offering a refreshing addition to the tradition of the medium, now back in stock.
As one of a growing number of women street photographers contributing to this dynamic genre, O’Shaughnessy enters the territory with clarity and a distinctly humanist eye. Through her curious and quirky vision, we witness the play of human activity on the glittering sidewalks of the city. Webb, recognized as a pioneer of American color photography since the 1970s, has consistently created photographs characterized by intense color and light. His work, with its richly layered and complex composition, touches on multiple genres, including street photography, photojournalism, and fine art, but as Webb claims, “To me it all is photography. You have to go out and explore the world with a camera.”
This public program is free and open to all. A recording of the event will be made available after the live event. Register here.
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Melissa O’Shaughnessy (born in Minneapolis, 1960) is a New York–based photographer. Her work is included in Colin Westerbeck and Joel Meyerowitz’s Bystander: A History of Street Photography (2017 edition) and has been featured in numerous exhibitions around the world. She is a member of UP Photographers. Perfect Strangers is her first monograph.
Alex Webb (born in San Francisco, 1952) has published more than fifteen books, including Aperture titles Brooklyn: The City Within (2019, with Rebecca Norris Webb); La Calle: Photographs from Mexico (2016); On Street Photography and the Poetic Image (2014, with Rebecca Norris Webb); and a survey of his color work, The Suffering of Light (2011). Webb has been a full member of Magnum Photos since 1979. His work has been shown widely, and he has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007.
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Image: Melissa O’Shaughnessy, Vesey Street, 2015, from Perfect Strangers: New York City Street Photographs (Aperture, 2020). © Melissa O’Shaughnessy
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