Born: 1957
Age: 59
Place of birth: New Jersey
Age: 59
Place of birth: New Jersey
Jeff Mermelstein is a American photojournalist and a street photographer and with no doubt is one of the most brilliant street photographers of our times. A large part of his work is dedicated to the streets where he lives and works and he captures the spirit of this city like no one else with both humor and tenderness. Jeff has a unique affinity for capturing people in moments of distinctly human idiosyncrasy and it's not a documentary but rather an exploration of human behavior and a probing of everyday banality. Each image which he captures is a humorous take on urban living, a comedy of errors, a surreal farce in a beautiful and frenetic theatre of life. In this series we are confronted with characters wandering the streets in a dream are crazed and paranoid or simply pressured by the travails of their daily existence. It’s the star of the show and Jeff has been pounding its pavements for decades recording its people and his encounters with them and he has the creative impulse, technique and the passion to capture the music of chance and the indefatigable spirit of this magnificent city and dedicated to do more. He is drawn to quirky scenes or people which makes his pictures slightly comical and once described as an absurdist with a sense of humour because his images capture the diversity and tiny details of the streets fantastically. He likes to find meaning in chaos and likes capturing moments that may never be repeated and it's fun and creative and a form of self expression and takes pictures of shop windows, cafes, reflections and shadows, the hustle and bustle of the city streets, people walking on the streets, dancing or behaving strangely, how people use public spaces, small gestures, graffiti, children playing, crime, the police, the fire service and people on the edge.