Street Photography: New York City, Philadelphia & Lambertville
a photo exhibition by Dan Schlesinger

Schlesinger presents subjects in candid situations--mostly in public settings such as streets, parks, and parades--among others. His photos tend to be ironic or whimsical. “I respond to--or try to anticipate--an event, a moment, a gesture, and keep an eye out for the unexpected in familiar, everyday locations: Some of my favorite photos—of the Gay and Veterans Day parades, for example—were taken from my 6th floor apartment window.

Occasionally, I’ll transform photos to reflect images in my “mind’s eye”: For example a Hasid dancing hand-in-hand with Radio City Rockettes dressed as Santa Claus. (#1) Or a clawing, open-mouthed tiger leaping at the seemingly-unprotected viewer.” (#2). While recovering from Cancer surgery, chemo and stem cell therapies, Dan discovered Photoshop—and rediscovered his teen-age love for photography.

Increasingly, Schlesinger is getting commissions to do “street photography” for weddings and corporate events, most recently for the NYS Coalition of Career Schools. “Many clients want a spontaneous, genuine, candid-camera feel, rather than standard, often clichéd shots of people with frozen smiles posed like figures in a wax museum... Street photography appeals to me for some of the reasons I love jazz: spontaneity, improvisation, and variations of a theme. Life is a lot like jazz, said George Gershwin. ‘It's best when you improvise.’ That's how I feel about photography.” Dan Schlesinger worked as an advertising copywriter and as magazine PR executive for Esquire, GQ, Us, Family Circle, the NY Times Magazine Group and at other major publishers. While working in publishing industry, Dan played alto sax at nights with “Mr. Spats,” a jazz combo favorably reviewed in People magazine. He founded Computer Educational Services, a Manhattan-based IT school in 1991. Presently he and his wife Dina Schlesinger run Access Careers, a vocational school in Queens. Dan is a member of the International Press Photographers Association.

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