Lee Friedlander: America By Car

When looking at American road photography, it is impossible to ignore the work of Lee Friedlander. I have chosen to research his book entitled 'America by Car' as this shows a number of his latest images and I feel is most relevant to own work.

America by Car is a vast compendium of the country’s eccentricities and obsessions at the turn of the century. Friedlander transforms the car’s windows into deliberate picture frames. A rearview mirror becomes a tool reflecting unexpected, fragmented juxtapositions. The combination of Friedlander’s optics married to the square format that has dominated his work in recent years produces radical foreshortening and extremely detailed views, both urban and rural. This is not, however, the first time Friedlander has used these framing devices. Elements of automotive architecture have appeared throughout the artist’s work since the 1960s. Yet Friedlander’s new photographs make compositional use of mirrors, windows, steering wheels and rental car leatherette in ways that both heighten and magnify contemporary America’s unique visual identity.

I like Friedlander's images because the way he uses the windows of the vehicle to frame his subjects gives the work sense of added depth, and a real sense of style and theme - it fits very well into the American travel photography genre. Friedlander is famous for his work, and I want to try and avoid my photographs being copies of his, but he certainly influences what I do!