“Here I was, a guy with a camera and a great inferiority complex, not having the time to live a so-called normal life, to meet a nice girl, to get married and to raise a family. I had given all that up for my work. So how was I going to meet girls? My brand new shiny maroon-colored Chevy coupe opened a new life for me… Maybe it wasn’t nice, but neither were most of the stories I covered The way I worked that’s the way I lived. I met some nice girls that way… Some days, after catching up with my sleep, I’d catch up with my social activities. I liked nurses…”
Weegee, Weegee by Weegee, p.55

“Remember… the field is wide open. Be original and develop your own style, but don’t forget above anything and everything else… be human… think… feel. When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track… Good luck.”
Weegee, Naked City, p. 243

“The people in these photographs are real. Some from the East Side and Harlem tenements, others are from Park Avenue. In most cases, they were,’t even aware they were being photographed and cared less. People like to be photographed and will always ask “What paper are you from, mister, and what day will they appear,” the jitterbugs and the Sinatra bobby-sock fans even want to know on what page it will appear. To me a photograph is a page from life, and that being the case, it must be real.
Weegee, Naked City, pp. 11-12

“At No. 267 Bowery, sandwiched between Missions and quarter-a-night flop houses, is “Sammy’s,” the poor man’s Stork Club…
While I was there absorbing the atmosphere and drinks, a midget walked in… he was about three and a half feet. I invited him for a drink. He told me that he had just arrived from Los Angeles, where he had been working for a Brown & Williams Tobacco Co., walking the streets dressed as a penguin. The midget was flush and started buying me drinks. He proudly showed my his social security card, told me that he was thirty-seven years old, was single as the girls were only after money… After the seventh rounds he got boisterous and offered to fight any man his size in the house. Sammy grabbed the midget and threw him out the doorway which has a red neon sign saying “Thank you, call again,” hollering at him not to ever come back again…”
Weegee, Naked City, p. 139

“Black magic… This is just one of a dozen stores of the same kind in Harlem.. A strange, fantastic mixture of religious articles and superstition, but the customers are not interested in religious articles… They want the different red, yellow, and blue powders that will make them lucky in love and the numbers game… and chase away enemies… I asked the professor what he was called an “alleged” Yoga… he told me that the reason was in order to keep him out of trouble with the cops…”
Weegee, Weegee’s People

CHAPTER VII
“A PHOTOGRAPHER’S PLACE AT A FIRE

Watch out for fire house.

Many a photographer has broken his or her neck or camera… or both, tripping over hose which lie in the streets. This is easy to do when your eye is glued to the view finder and you move into position for a shot. Look where you are going.
If you arrive at the scene by car, do not ride over the hose… even if you see the mayor and fire chief doing it.
Stay away from the high pressure connection… if they break, which often happens, you are in for a soaking.

Don’t throw used flash bulbs in the street.

Not only do they create a hazard… but it will antagonize the authorities. Put them in your bag or pocket.”

Weegee’s Secrets of Shooting with Photoflash, 1953, p. 37

“I had used my trick lenses to photograph some of the cities on my tour for Universal, and now had quite a collection of trick scenes and caricatures. Wondering what the artistic reaction would be to such pictures, I took a portfolio of them to the Museum of Modern Art.
When I showed them to Captain Edward Steichen, he became quite excited. “You’re really creating with your camera, Weegee,” he said. “You’re now using your camera as a creative tool.” I had developed new techniques, and had no competition…”
Weegee, Weegee by Weegee, p. 124

“Weegee’s Comment On His Craft:
Most photographers always use the same old methods. We’ll assume that a horse-drawn wagon is going over the Williamsburg Bridge. A car hits it and the driver is tossed into the water and gets killed. The other photographers will take a picture of the bridge and then have an artist draw a diagram showing how the guy fell into the water. What I do is go and see what happened to the poor old horse…”

“Posing with Tony Curtis. Weegee says, “A regular guy… and also a great admirer of my work.””

“If he hasn’t had too hectic a night, Weegee goes over to 42nd Street around 8:30 in the morning to see a gangster movie, or just a movie. “I don’t like Hedy Lamarr or Joan Bennett because when people emote, I like to see them emote. My favorite place to sleep is Trans Lux. Especially in summer. I take off my shoes and first thing I know I’m asleep. I can almost always count on getting a half hour’s sleep there.” Weegee finds that sleep is something of a problem when you work at night, but sometimes, he says, “I give myself a bonus – eight hours sleep.”