Fred Herzog’s street photography is jammed full of colour – an early explorer of colour film – his images capture decades of change through the city streets of Vancouver in BC, Canada. A full-time Medical Photographer, Herzog’s love of the camera continued into the free hours he had; taking a snapshot of everyday life wherever he could and often using the architecture of the street as a frame in which to map it. This is particularly clear with his use of strong lines; cutting an image into dividing sections by using the doors and windows in which to isolate and focus the eye e.g. Lady in Red (1975). He also captured a juxtaposition of architecture due to fast-paced developments, with some sections appearing almost abandoned and weathered by the passing of years, while in another, neon lights and shop signs are so heavily built upon one another that you almost fail to see the buildings their attached to – as if they’re floating in mid-air; Arcade (1968). The contrast between the two shouting both of the differences in wealth and the extremes of a growing capitalism.
Fred Herzog, ‘Lady in Red’, 1975.
Courtesy of The Estate of Fred Herzog and Equinox Gallery, Vancouver.© The Estate of Fred Herzog, 2022.
Due to Herzog carrying his camera with him whenever possible, his street photography captured another stark difference in the city; from the soothingly quiet slumber in the early hours – with a sense that everything is on pause as it waits to be used by its missing occupants – to when the city once again presses play, its inhabitants making the streets thrum with life. The warmth of Herzog’s photography only serves to magnify this, with vibrant colours held against the stark grey of concrete pavements. His images holding not just the essence of the city, but its period, with the photographs feeling like a beautiful time capsule you could walk into and converse with those held inside.
Fred Herzog, ‘Arcade’, 1968.
Courtesy of The Estate of Fred Herzog and Equinox Gallery, Vancouver.© The Estate of Fred Herzog, 2022
Herzog – as great photographers do – mastered the use of light, not just in his strong contrasts and depths of scenes, but as he did with architecture, to use light as a framework. For example, in Crossing Powell 2 (1984) a reflected sunbeam acts as a spotlight to highlight a person as they cross the road, while in his Self-Portrait (1961) the light from a window frames his gaze, emphasising how he’s looking off into the distance. In addition, this portrait has something of a painterly quality about it, one that’s reminiscent of Norman Rockwell’s artwork, maybe it’s the idealism of the two. Either way it’s a fitting image that captures the eyes of a great photographer.
b. 1930 – d. 2019
Fred Herzog, ‘Crossing Powell 2’, 1984.
Courtesy of The Estate of Fred Herzog and Equinox Gallery, Vancouver.© The Estate of Fred Herzog, 2022.
