JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I'm sure some of you here have heard of fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, who shot for the New York Times for 40 years. He did shoot fashion shows and society events, but his real love was a genre of photography he developed - candid street fashion photography. He thought the fashion shows didn't really represent what people wore on the street, which he felt was a more democratic approach to fashion.

There was actually another documentary about him in 2010, Bill Cunningham New York, which is where I learned about him. I wondered if another documentary was really necessary, but this one, The Times of Bill Cunningham, was made by director Mark Bozek based on an interview he filmed with Bill in 1994, so much of it is in his own words. Mark also had access to 3 million(!) previously unpublicized images and documents from Cunningham. It focuses more on his early life and career. He always had an interest in fashion, and during the '50s he worked as a hat designer, with his hats being worn by many of the biggest movie stars of the era. Then he started working as a fashion journalist, which led to his starting to photograph fashion.

He was a very eccentric person, living in a small studio in Carnegie Hall, along with many creative people - actors, musicians and dancers. He got around New York City on a bicycle doing his street photography. The New York Times gave his two pages every week for street fashion photos and commentary. He didn't consider himself a real photographer, but a fashion historian, and he depreciated his skill as a photographer. But you can't do street photography in New York City every day for 40 years, shoot millions of photos, and not get some great street shots, which are on display in the movie. You can Google him if you want more information about him or the movie - I don't want to post a link and have this moved to the Links section.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

THanks for posting.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

A few years ago, I saw the documentary. It was excellent. He was an extraordinary man.
Mark

jsfphotos Loc: New York, NY

The first movie about him was absolutely wonderful. Bill Cunningham has such grace and humility — a beautiful human being who was also an amazing photographer. I haven’t seen the most recent film but friends say it’s also wonderful. I plan to see it soon.

LCD

Looks fascinating.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

That must have been the first documentary. The new one is a great companion piece.

POVDOV

Thanks for posting. I will look him up

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

Sounds very interesting. I certainly enjoyed the first one. Any notion where one might see it, particularly outside of NYC?

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Most of the country will have to catch it on Netflix or other streaming source. I'm lucky to be in San Francisco where we have independent theaters showing indie, foreign and documentary films. Even so, I made sure to see it in a theater the week it opened because small films like this often don't stay around long.

mjmoly

I loved the first movie too. Looking forward to seeing the second.
Thanks for posting. Much appreciated.