In Tod Papageorge’s photographs of L.A. beachgoers in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, he transforms formally challenging scrums into theatrical vignettes or semi-abstractions.
In Tod Papageorge’s photographs of L.A. beachgoers in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, he transforms formally challenging scrums into theatrical vignettes or semi-abstractions.
Tod Papageorge was relatively new to Manhattan and photography when he set out in the mid-1960s to make his mark. While street photographers with black-and-white film darted around pedestrians and traffic, he was attracted to storefronts with their harmonized symmetry and varying shades of gold between jelly jars and cider jugs. Traditionally, black and white was the choice of street photography, and color was for commercial work. His contemporaries, Joel Meyerowitz and Garry Winogrand, urged him to use color.
The four finalists for the annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2009 are Paul Graham, Emily Jacir, Tod Papageorge and Taryn Simon. The big winner will be awarded the prize of £30,000 on March 25, 2009.
