Lee Friedlander, a “media-shy” popular black and white photographer who started the trend of social landscapes in the 1960’s and 70’s. Numerous photographs of his included street signs and posters, reflections, and shadows. He mainly used black and white film and Leica hand-held 35 mm cameras. When you look at him, “you see a man who could photograph anything and wasn’t afraid to do it.” Lee Friedlander influenced American photography through his unconventional and alternative photography.
Friedlander was born in Aberdeen, Washington on July 14, 1934. His mother passed away when he was seven, and his father thought he wouldn't be able to raise him, so Friedlander had to grow up on a farm located about 110 miles away from Seattle. At the age of fourteen, a family member gave him a camera which introduced him to photography, and hasn’t put the…show more content… He did have some very popular works like “The Little Screens”, and the “America by Car” series; but he had so many works that most of them remain unseen by the art community, and also because some of them cannot compare to his more popular works, so they stay unnoticed. In 2005, the Museum of Modern Art had and exhibition showing more than 400 of his photos; and in 2009, one of his nude shots of Madonna sold for $37,500 at a Christie's Art House auction, so although his career is over, his work has continued to flourish.
After he was introduced to photography at a young age, he later shot some album covers for Jazz musicians in New York and New Orleans, and began real commercial work in the late 1950’s; and most of his work was influenced by his idols and role models, Eugéne Atget, Robert Frank, and Walker Evans. When he photographed Madonna in 1979 it was before she was famous, and she was only a student at the time, and only received $25 for the series of photos. Once both she and the photographer became famous, the photos became popular and were worth over
