“Weegee often snaps people who have good reason to dodge a camera.”

“I’M A GUITAR KING”; Tommy McClennan; Publication date: September 15, 1941

“TRAVELLIN’ HIGHWAY MAN”; Tommy McClennan; Publication date: September 15, 1941

PM, September 15, 1940, pp.48-49

The Way People React to a Camera Is Revealing

Point a big camera at a little man or a pocket Brownie at a big man and the chances are the reaction will be strong. Usually he will freeze up as if he’s put through the Birdseye Frozen Foods process. Camera shyness can…

If the photographer aims for character… Or the photographer can consciously use the shyness to make a picture.

In some pictures, Weegee has to be ruthless in sneaking shots of people who don’t want to be photographed. It’s his job – news coverage demands such pictures. But here Fritz Kuhn, arrested for stealing funds from his Nazi Bund, is glad to be photographed. Kuhn is putting on an act to show his followers they needn’t fear for his safety; and to tell the world he is fearless, innocent and lovable. But we can smell the acting in the forced geniality.

Here two boys were arrested for holding up a gas station express to the public their attitude or bravado about the whole business.

These men stabbed an enemy in a New York opera house. Weegee often snaps people who have good reason to dodge a camera.

This arrested man was hiding from a battery of photographers when Weegee crept around and caught him from his unprotected side.
PM, September 15, 1940

“Out of Nowhere”; Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra; Lena Horne; Heyman; J. Green; Publication date: September 15, 1941

“Romance Without Finance”; Tiny Grimes Quintette; Tiny Grimes; Charlie Parker; Clyde Hart; Jimmie Butts; Harold West; Lloyd Grimes; Publication date: September 15, 1944

“I’ll Always Love You Just the Same”; Tiny Grimes Quintette; Tiny Grimes; Charlie Parker; Clyde Hart; Jimmie Butts; Harold West; Lloyd Grimes; Publication date: September 15, 1944