Tod Papageorge: Dr. Blankman’s New York: Kodachromes 1966–1967

Tod Papageorge and other influential photographers of the time such as Saul Leiter, we’re an important influence on the look and feel of A Complete Unknown – the film about Bob Dylan’s rise to fame in the early 1960s.

Tod Papageorge produced the photographs for Dr. Blankman’s New York in 1966–67, on the heels of moving into the city. Photographer friends persuaded him that he could help pay the rent by landing some magazine assignments, and that a carousel tray of slides would be the best way of convincing art directors to take a chance on him. So, often after spending a day in the streets photographing in black-and-white, he would put a roll of Kodachrome film in his camera on his walk home and make colour pictures, in many cases of shop windows, a subject he was convinced might help him earn a bit of commercial work.