These photographs of 1950s New York by Saul Leither, an American photographer and painter, are currently on show at a major retrospective of his work at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany. Born in 1923, Leiter came to New York in 1946 and, with no formal training, made his living as a photographer shooting fashion magazine spreads for publications such as Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. In his spare time he walked the streets of the city photographing everyday New York life, often with an expired roll of color film, which created the distinctive, muted colours.

I think Martin Harrison, author of “Saul Leiter Early Color” sums up these images perfectly - “For him the camera provided an alternate way of seeing, of framing events and interpreting reality. He sought out moments of quiet humanity in the Manhattan maelstrom, forging a unique urban pastoral from the most unlikely of circumstances.”

- A.Morris