Embracing the Digital Age: A New Direction Blooms

One of the biggest innovation in Feinstein’s work began in the late 90’s when he took out a loan and purchased high-end computer equipment and software so that he could begin to manifest some new ways to “pay homage” to his love of life. His wife, Judith, was aghast at the price tag and skeptical about the project. She has since confessed that there is generally a method to his madness.

Feinstein, who called himself a slow-learn with technology, waited for the right moment, when a young digital printer wanted to barter photography lessons for Photoshop lessons. Once he got the hang of it, Feinstein’s imagination exploded. A year later he had his first book contract for One Hundred Flowers with Little Brown, which is now in it’s third printing. The next year he had six exhibitions, multiple magazine articles and book reviews. Oprah showcased the work in six magazines and two of her books. In fact, his image Robin’s Roses (1999) adorns the cover of her book “Words that Matter” (William Morrow, 2010). Six more color books would follow over the next 8 years.

For some years Feinstein did not divulge the secret to how he made such finely detailed flower portraits. Eventually he did. Using his Epson scanner as a camera allowed for both front lighting and a very shallow depth of field. The results are breath-taking close-ups allowing the viewer to partake of a bumble-bee’s pleasure. Eventually seashells, butterflies and foliage joined the collection. Epson was so taken with how he had used their scanner that they toured him around the country to trade shows and eventually nominated him for the Smithsoniain Computerworld Award for advances in digital technology, which he won in 2000.

Harold Feinstein was born in Coney Island in 1931. He began his career in photography in 1946 at the age of 15 and within four short years, Edward Steichen, an early supporter, had purchased his work for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He joined the Photo League at 17 and became a prominent figure in the vanguard of the early New York City street photography scene where he exhibited at Helen Gee’s Limelight Gallery and was a designer for historic Blue Note Records. He was one of the original inhabitants of the legendary “Jazz Loft,” which he later turned over to his long-time collaborator and colleague W. Eugene Smith.

Feinstein is best known for his six-decade engagement with Coney Island. While his Coney Island work has been much celebrated, Feinstein’s breadth and exposure are far greater. His photographs from the Korean War, taken from the perspective of a draftee, offer an intimate look at the daily life of young conscripts from induction, to basic training, to the front lines. In addition, he has a large collection of classic street photography, nudes, portraits and still life. His first black and white monograph, Harold Feinstein: A Retrospective, was published in 2012 by Nazraeli Press and won a Photo District News 2013 award in the Best Photo Books category.

Feinstein’s photographs have been exhibited in and are represented in the permanent collections of major museums around the globe including the Museum of Modern Art, International Center of Photography, George Eastman House, Museum of Photographic Arts, Center for Creative Photography, Musée d’Art Moderne, the Jewish Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York. His portfolios, photo essays, and articles have been published in major periodicals including, LIFE, Aperture, Black and White, Camera Arts, The New York Times Magazine, American Photo, Oprah Magazine, Evergreen Review, Photography Annual, Modern Photography and Popular Photography.

The work of Harold Feinstein is featured in these Theme Collections.

(Select the image to view the theme page)

Abstraction – Color

Landscape – B&W

Signage

Sky

Studies of Light – B&W

Still Life – Color

Urban Landscapes – Color

Harold Feinstein and the Korean War

When Harold Feinstein, then a young photographer from New York, was drafted and sent to Camp Kilmer for basic training during the Korean War, he applied to be an official Army photographer. Even at this tender age, Feinstein’s abilities as a photographer had been recognized by some of the most influential curators in the United States, including Edward Steichen of the Museum of Modern Art.

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The Army, however, must not have shared Steichen’s view as his request was denied, and Feinstein was sent to Korean in the early 1950s to fight as an infantryman on the front lines. Upon his arrival in Asia, Feinstein realized the benefits of not being an official Army photographer.

Confidence Course, 1952

Feinstein wrote how lucky he came to feel that his wishes had been denied by the Army. “In retrospect, this was a great boon, because I was able to carry my camera everywhere and simply capture the day-to-day life of a draftee and not the official handshakes and medal ceremonies I would’ve been required to shoot as an official photographer.”

Feinstein suffered a non-combat related injury after a few months on the front lines and was sent back to Pusan (after a stint in a Kyoto hospital) to spend the rest of his tour as a sign painter and illustrator at Army Headquarters away from heavy combat. This location gave him even greater access to the Korean people, as well as an independent view of the day to day lives of GIs and civilians alike.

Standing Guard, 1952

As Americans celebrate Memorial Day this year on Monday May 30th, Lumière is highlighting Feinstein’s contribution to war photography, as part of our on-line exhibition Memorial Day.

“As I look at these photographs now I see again through the eyes of a 21-year-old from Coney Island, fresh off the boardwalk and thrown into a situation with my peers who could’ve been at Coney Island with me riding the cyclone or flirting with their girlfriend under the boardwalk, or cruising around town on a Saturday night. No one could have prepared us for the hell of war, and that’s as true now as it was then. But in spite of it all, we gravitated toward the one thing we all shared – being a bunch of young men, wanting to be home with the people we loved, and seeking the comraderie and comfort of each other to fend off the anxiety of going to war,” he wrote.

It seems fitting that Feinstein brought back humanizing pictures from Korea, since that conflict is sometimes referred to as America’s forgotten war. Feinstein never forgot the war, nor the price paid by Americans and Koreans alike. Standing Guard, Korea, 1953 is a stark image of an American soldier protecting a desolate stretch of road on a rainy day. Like the solider, the viewer’s ability to see down this foggy road is obscured, perhaps reflecting Feinstein’s feelings about this war that claimed the lives of well over 36,000 American soldiers.

According to the data from the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States suffered 33,686 battle deaths, along with 2,830 non-battle deaths. South Korea reported some 373,599 civilian and 137,899 military deaths. Western sources estimate the Chinese army experienced about 400,000 killed and 486,000 wounded, while the North Koreans suffered 215,000 killed and 303,000 wounded.

Korean Children on Village Bridge, Pusan, 1953

Though Harold Feinstein passed away in June of 2015, one of his blog posts from 2014 recounts his feelings about his military service and the Korean War in general.

“As a GI, I remember arriving in Pusan and receiving instructions not to ‘fraternize’ with the local people. But, I confess that I broke that rule. I…got to know the local children. I also witnessed their sacrifices and suffering,” he wrote. “(I) remember, with great fondness and sympathies, those GIs who were conscripted with me and those civilians who I came to know. I respect them now as I did then.”

Korean Children at Bridge, Pusan, 1952 is a compelling photograph that both depicts an everyday scene of children congregating on a local bridge but also captures their uncertainty at seeing a western soldier in their midst. The shacks that line the river in this image point to their poverty, but also reveals the intimacy with which Feinstein looked at the country.

A viewer can easily tell that Feinstein was standing among the children, when the image was made. He was not surveying them from afar. His physical proximity is an extension of his closeness to the Korean people.

Boots Stowed Under Cot, 1952

Other Feinstein photographs taken in the United States during basic training and on leave, reveal a similar closeness and empathy for American soldiers. In Boots Stowed Under Cots, 1952, a young soldier rests in the barracks, appearing vulnerable under his blanket deep in sleep. This picture foreshadows the powerful series made by Tim Hetherington of American soldiers sleeping in their makeshift quarters in Afghanistan more than fifty years later.

Feinstein acted as both an active member of the United States Army and independent eye. Today’s “imbedded” photojournalists would love to have the access that Feinstein carved out for himself in Korean through his own ingenuity and force of personality.

These photographs of the Korean War are one of many ways Harold Feinstein contributed to the history of photography. An online gallery of Feinstein’s images drawn from the course of his entire career can be seen on his Lumière Artist Page.

Harold Feinstein • Master Photographer
April 17, 1931 - June 20, 2015

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