WeeGee

Weegee, born Usher Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 27, 1968), was an American photographer and photojournalist renowned for his stark, black-and-white crime photography in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. He adopted the byline Weegee as his professional name; the exact origin of the nickname is the subject of lore, with various stories about his rapid arrival at crime scenes contributing to the moniker.

Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in a region that is now part of Ukraine, Fellig immigrated to the United States as a child and settled in New York. He built a career by covering fires, crimes, and city life, often arriving at scenes shortly after they occurred. He relied on a portable flashbulb, a modified car, and, by some accounts, a police radio to reach locations quickly, producing images that were immediate, dramatic, and sometimes sensational in tone.

Weegee’s best-known work includes the book Naked City (1945), which presented a panoramic, magazine-style view of urban crime and street life. His photographs helped popularize a documentary, street-level approach to photojournalism, influencing later generations of photographers who sought to capture the immediacy of events as they unfolded. He also contributed to newspapers, magazines, and film stills, expanding his reach beyond single-issue crime scenes to broader depictions of urban America.

Active through the 1950s and 1960s, Weegee’s work remains a defining example of mid-20th-century urban photojournalism. He died in New York City in 1968, leaving a lasting impact on documentary photography and the public’s visual memory of crime and city life.