William Gedney: Night Photographs

Brooklyn street at night, 1969 Ronson Studios window front at night, 1960s

William Gedney's was an American photographer, working between the mid 1950's and early '80s and covering a vast range of subjects. From the Duke Library introduction:

“From street scenes outside his Brooklyn apartment to the daily chores of unemployed coal miners, from the indolent lifestyle of hippies in Haight-Ashbury to the sacred rituals of Hindu worshippers, Gedney recorded the lives of others with remarkable clarity and poignancy.”

Street at night with Goodmans-Sealy advertisment on building, 1975

Gedney was by all accounts a quiet, private person, living for his work and eschewing most material possessions. He was known as an “immersion photographer”: living and blending in with his subjects to a degree way beyond that of most documentary photographers.

Two men in front of a diner on a snowy night, 1969

Gedney's night photographs perhaps reflect a different side of his personality; that of a somewhat lonely and alienated man. These images draw parallels with the art of Edward Hopper, in the stillness and serenity of the scenes they depict; in particular with Hopper's Nighthawks, one of my early favourites.

All images courtesy of the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library; there's a bit more information about William Gedney here.